Soheila Sokhanvari (Persian: سهیلا سخنوری; born 1964)[1] is an Iranian-born British multidisciplinary visual artist.[2][3][4] She is known for her drawings and egg-tempera paintings, often featuring her memories, or based on family photographs.[5] Sokhanvari now lives in Cambridge, where she is an associate artist at the Wysing Arts Centre, a contemporary arts residency centre.[1]

Soheila Sokhanvari
سهیلا سخنوری
Born1964 (age 59–60)
EducationUniversity of Cambridge,
Anglia Ruskin University,
Chelsea College of Art and Design,
Goldsmiths' College
OccupationMultidisciplinary visual artist
Known forPainting, drawing, installation art
MovementMagic realism
WebsiteOfficial website

Biography

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Soheila Sokhanvari was born in 1964 in Shiraz, Pahlavi Iran.[1] She left Iran in 1978 at the age of 14 before the Iranian Revolution, to study in the United Kingdom.[2] After she moved away from her family and her homeland, she found greater importance in her family photos.[6] She is a dual national with citizenship in Iran and in the UK.[7]

She graduated with a degree (1986) in biochemistry from University of Cambridge.[8] Sokhanvari also has a degree (2005) in fine art and art history from Anglia Ruskin University in East Anglia, United Kingdom;[8] a postgraduate diploma from Chelsea College of Art and Design (now Chelsea College of Arts) in London; and she has a MFA degree from Goldsmiths' College.[1]

Sokhanvari's early work featured crude oil, and eventually expanded to sepia drawings of family and pre-Iranian Revolution.[6] Her more recent artwork is made with brightly colored egg tempera on vellum (calf skin) and she uses a squirrel hair brush (which are reminiscent of the materials used in Persian miniatures).[6] She uses old family photographs as subjects for her paintings, and she heavily utilizes patterns.[6] She has also painted the feminist entertainers and icons of Iran as a subject.[6][9][10][11]

Sokhanvari's solo exhibitions include "Rebel Rebel" (2022–2023) at Curve Gallery, Barbican Centre in London;[3][12][13] and "We Could Be Heroes..." (2023–2024) at Heong Gallery in Downing College, Cambridge.[6] Her artwork can be found in museum collections including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[14] and National Gallery of Victoria.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Iranian artist Soheila Sokhanvari presents a site-specific installation at Barbican Art Gallery". ArtDaily.cc. October 11, 2022. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  2. ^ a b "Soheila Sokhanvari: the former scientist using 'alchemy' to bring together Iranian and Western culture". The Art Newspaper. 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  3. ^ a b Jones, Jonathan (2022-10-07). "Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel review – vivacious paintings of liberated Iranian womanhood". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  4. ^ "Iranian women show joyful defiance in Rebel Rebel at the Barbican". The Financial Times. October 12, 2022. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  5. ^ Makari-Aghdam, Sara (2017-10-15). "Soheila Sokhanvari". Frieze. No. 191. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Pound, Cath (2023-11-22). "The Iranian artist using painting to honor her lost homeland". CNN. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  7. ^ Halasa, Malu (2023-09-12). Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women's Protests in Iran. Saqi Books. pp. 39–41. ISBN 978-0-86356-977-7.
  8. ^ a b "Woman, Life, Art: In Conversation with Haydeh Changizian and Soheila Sokhanvari". SOAS University of London. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  9. ^ "Soheila Sokhanvari Honors the Untold Stories of Iran's Feminist Icons". W Magazine. 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  10. ^ "Artist Soheila Sokhanvari honours the untold stories of Iran's feminist icons". France 24. 2022-10-11. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  11. ^ "My Art Celebrates Iran's Feminist Rebels; The Protests In The Country Are Giving Me Hope". British Vogue. Condé Nast. 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  12. ^ Shahandeh, Katy (2022-10-21). "Rebel, Rebel: Iranian women's resistance across generations". The New Arab. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  13. ^ "'Time for A Feminist Revolution in Iran,' Says Artist Soheila Sokhanvari". Kayhan Life. 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  14. ^ "Party People". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
  15. ^ "Soheila Sokhanvari". NGV. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
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