Bio
Born in Ahvaz, Iran. Lives New York, USA.
I needed a mirror to see myself; not finding that mirror, I created my own through art. The canvas became for me ‘a mirror of inclusion’, a place to contextualize myself and establish my identity. Yet, in attempting to explain my relationship to ‘my’ culture (not just Iranian, but Arab-Iranian), I found I knew little of what this culture really was. Before, I sensed only the unease of being a non-white in a white society; now I felt unease on both side of the cultural divide.
Education
1984-1987 B.A.Hons Canterbury College of Art. The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NY: Co-Founder, Senior Member Lifetime Tenure, Board Member Selected
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019 A Night Sea Journey – XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2017 Redemptive Narratives, Migrating Patterns- XVA Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2016 Leaping the Void – Grey Art Gallery, NYU and Pomegranate Gallery, NY NY
2015 Love & Ammunition – Rossi & Rossi gallery, London
2015 Narratives: Hearts, Minds & Mythologies – Bernstein Gallery, Woodrow Wilson Schl, Princeton University, NJ
2015 An Autobiography & Other Confessions – XVA Gallery, Dubai
2014 Conflicting Naratives – B2OA Gallery, NY
2007 Anthony Giordano Gallery, Dowling College, NY
2005 _Mirror of Inclusion _– Vernacular Press, New York
2002 Veiled Icon – Skoto Gallery, New York
1999/97/95/93 One Person Show – Mercury Gallery, London
1997 One Person Show -Gallery Urd, Bergen, Norway
Awards and Collections
2022 Yaddo Fellowship, NY
2022 Acquisition: LA County Museum, CA
Fellowship: Saltonstall Foundation, Ithaca,NY
2018 Nomination: Anonymous Was A Woman Award
2018 New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Painting fellowship
2016 Fellowship: Saltonstall Foundation, Ithaca,NY2016 Byrdcliffe AIR program – Woodstock, NY
2014 Bequest to The British Museum By Dr Diana Lipton
2014 The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award
2013 Permanent Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
2012 University of Virginia: Artist in residence fellow
2011 Omid Foundation, Tehran, Iran
2010 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painting/Sculpture
2010 The Burger Collection
2009 The Farjam Art Collection, Dubai
2008 Permanent Collection of the British Museum, UK
2008 The Donald Rubin Foundation (Rubin Museum) NY
2008 The Devi Foundation, India
2007 New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) fellowship
2006 Yaddo Fellowship, NY
2002 Permanent Collection of the British Government, UK
1997 M&G Purchase Prize – Royal Academy, London, UK
Curatorial Projects
2022 Curated Show: Transcendent Objects (10 sculptures) – EFA Project Space, NY NY
2019 Curated Show: American Psyche (8 figurative painters) – EFA Studios, NY NY
Teaching & Lecturing
2007- ’09 Studio in a School
2008 SUNY- Suffolk College Lecture
2008 Pennsylvania State College – Invited Lecturer
2007 Dowling College, Oakland NY
2006 Islip Museum – Slide lecture: “Mirror Image” show
2006/07 Studio in a School Program, NY
2001 Hunter College, New York – Printmaking Workshop
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Future Fair, with Nyama Fine Art, Chelsea, NY NY
2022 Mostly New: Selections from the NYU Art Collection. Grey Art Gallery, NYU, NY NY
2021 Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Af-rica – From The British Museum Collection – The British Museum UK
2021 Defied Logic Curated by Nina Divani – Ivy Brown gallery NY
2020 Curated by Malissa Joseph – Shelter in Place gallery Boston, MA
2020 Take Home a Nude – The New York Academy, NY
2019 She Persists, Heist Gallery at the 58th Venice Biennale, Italy
2019 Self Curated Show – American Psyche – EFA Studios, NY NY
2019 Re-Orientations: Feminist Perspectives Rooted in the Near East and South Asia – La Esquina NY, NY
2018 Apres Coup -Transforming Trauma into Art – Curated by Hallie Cohen – Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College, NY
2017 Echo – Curated by Azita Moradkhani at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA . – May -July
2017 Facial Profiling – Curated by David Terry & NYFA at C24, Gallery, New York – July – Aug
2017 Outcasts: Women in the Wilderness at Wave Hill, Bronx, NY – April – July, Co-Curators: Deborah Frizzell, Harry J. Weil; Wave Hill, Jennifer Mc Gregor, Director of Arts & Senior Curator and Gabriel de Guzman, Cu-rator of Visual Arts
2016 The Human Image : Masterpieces of Figurative Art From The Brit-ish Museum – International Touring Exhibition :The National Museum of Korea
2016 The Simurgh – Creative Alliance at the Patterson, Baltimore
2016 Persian Color – Curated by Bill Carroll, Shirin gallery NY
2015 (Feb – May) Bazm O Razm – Kevorkian Room, Islamic Dept. Met-ropolitan Museum of Art, NY
2015 (Jan – Ap) “Azadi va Edalet: Stories Retold by Contemporary Ira-nian Women Artists” – Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
2015 Artistic Weapons of Mass Communication – Curated by Souhad Rafey – FiveMyles gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2014 Istanbul Art Fair with Todd Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco
2013 Istanbul Art Fair with Todd Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco
2013 The Body is Present – Curated by Deborah Frizzell, Ramapo Col-lege, NJ
2013 Her Stories – Curated by Jaishri Abichandani, Taubman Museum, Washington, DC
2013 Thanks , Curated by Adam Parker Smith, Lu Magnus gallery NY
2013 I Am My World, Curated by David Gibson, No-Sphere gallery
2013 Be/Longing , Curated by Monica Bose, Smith Center for the Arts, Washington, DC
2013 Women Redrawing the World Stage, SOHO20 gallery, NY
2013 Salam Bombay Travels to Twelve Gates gallery, Philadelphia
2012 Salam Bombay Curated by Jasmine Wahi, Art Asia Miami
2012 Fertile Crescent , Rutgers University, NJ
2012 Her Stories , Curated by Jaishri Abichandani, (SAWCC 15th Aniversary) Queen Museum of Art, NY
2011 Fluidity Layering & Veiling Curated by Deborah Frizzell, Sacred Heart University, CT
2010 Tough Love , Curated by Shaheen Mirali , Platforma Revolver, Lisbon, Portugal
2010 Tehran, New York Leila Heller gallery, New York
2010 _The Promise of Loss _ (Traveled to) Arario Gallery, NY
2009 The Promise of Loss – Curated by Shaheen Mo-rale, Galleri Ernst Hilger -Vienna, Austria
2009 Iran Inside Out – Chelsea Art Museum, New York (Travels to DePaul University Museum – Chicago & the Farjam Museum – Dubai), Movers & Shakers – Leila Heller gallery, New York
2009 Incheon Women Artists’ Biennale – Korea
2009 798 Beijing Biennale – China
2009 Artists In Exile – Arario gallery – New York
2009 Just Paper- Drawing Show- LTMH Gallery, New York
2009 Conference of the Birds – Leila Heller Gallery, London
2009 Tehran biennale – Urban Jealousy – Tehran, Iran
2009 Weaving the Common Thread – Iranian Artists – Queens Museum, NY
2001 – ’20 Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts – Open Studios, New York, NY
News & Press
2021 Cultural Politics – Ghosts of Migration; An Interview with Samira Ab-bassy, by Deborah Frizzell – Duke University Press, (https://doi.org/10.1215/17432197-9305377), November
2021 British Museum Events (on Youtube): Music to stir the soul – interview with Venetia Porter, August 2017 Boston Globe – Review of “Echo” Curated by Azita Moradkhani at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA, August
2015 Depart Magazine: Allegories of the present: Eternal Wars and Cabaret Crusades by Deborah Frizzell, November
2012 Financial Times Lifestyle section interview by Nisa Qasi, September
2011 Art Asia Pacific Magazine: Interview by Jaishri Abichandani, July
2009 Bob Edwards Radio Show, July
Reviews and Press
2021 Art Spiel – Samira Abbassy: Hybrid Iconography »
2017 Boston Globe – Review of “Echo” Curated by Azita Moradkhani at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, MA
2015 Depart Magazine: Allegories of the present: Eternal Wars and Cabaret Crusades by Deborah Frizzell, November 2015
2012 Financial Times Lifestyle section interview by Nisa Qasi, September 2012
2011 Art Asia Pacific Magazine: Interview by Jaishri Abichandani, July 2011
2009
Bob Edwards Radio Show, July 2009
Reuters Camera Interview, August 2009
2007
New York Times – Review By Ben Genocchio, October 2007
Newsday – Cover Story – Feature Interview by Ariella Budick, October 2007
Washington Post, July 2007
2004 The Week Magazine -The Independent, London – Review, August 2004
1998 New York Times – Review, July 1998.
1997 The Times, London – Review, March 1997.