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Name :
Shirana Shahbazi
Biography :
Date of Birth: 15.06.1974
Sex: Female
Educations: 1995-1997
Major: Hochschule für gestaltung und kunst, Zurich
Artistic Activities: Various Prizes (including
Citibank Photography Prize in 2002) and artist
residencies (NY, Berlin, LA). Member of SHAHRZAD
collective with Tirdad Zolghadr and Manuel Krebs.
Exhibitions:
Solo shows (selecsion)
2007
Swiss Institute, New York
Barbican Art Gallery, The Curve, London
2006
Raum für Fotografie, Sprengelmuseum, Hannover
Milton Keynes Art Gallery, Milton Keynes
2005
Centre d'Art Contemporain, Genève
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zurich
Silk Road Gallery, Tehran
Zimmerfrei, Lugano (mit Andro Wekua)
2004
Salon 94, New York
The Wrong Gallery, New York
Trans Area, New York
Planet 22 (SHAHRZAD), Genève
2003
The Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin
2002
Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zürich
Bonner Kunstverein am August Macke Platz, Bonn
L'elac, Lausanne
2001
Photographers'Gallery, London
Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg i. Br. (with Eric Steinbrecher)
Group Exhibitions (Selection)
2006
Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, Museum of Modern Art, NY
Berlin Biennale 4, Berlin
Reale Fantasien- Neue Fotografie aus der Schweiz, Fotomuseum, Winterthur
2005
Weltbilder, Helmhaus, Zurich
Universal Experience: Art, Life, and the
Tourist's Eye, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Chicago; Hayward Gallery, London
Homeworks III, Ashkal Alwan Forum, Beirut
Between New Painting and Political Action, Prague Biennale
2004
Ethnic Marketing (SHAHRZAD), Centre d'Art Contemporain, Genève
Non Toccare la Donna Bianca, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino
2003
Delays and Revolutions, 50th International Venice Biennale, Venice
Nation, Kunstverein Frankfurt, Frankfurt a.M.
Girls Night Out, Orange County Museum of Art, New
Port Beach; Addison Gallery of American Art,
Andover; Aspen Art Museum, Aspen; Contemporary
Art Museum, Saint Louis; Blaffer Gallery, Art
Museum of the University of Houston, Houston
2002
The Citigroup Private Bank Photography Prize 2002, Photographers'
Gallery, London
Protest! Respect! (SHAHRZAD), Kunsthalle St. Gallen
2001
Zurich- Urban Diary, Galerie Bob van Orsouw, Zürich
Heimaten, Galerie für zeitgen?ssische Kunst, Leipzig
Das Versprechen der Fotografie, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt a.M.
Shirana Shahbazi's artistic practice relies on an intense approach to seeing. She looks beyond the surface of what's in front of her - two chickens
with polka-dot markings, a bowl of fresh fruit, a skyscraper, a bride on her wedding day - to create images so sharp and vivid they seem almost
unreal. From landscapes to still lifes, portraits, and travel photos, Shahbazi consistently plays with new possibilities of representation.
In [Baby - 01- 2000] (2000) Shahbazi gave her photograph of a baby to a commercial sign painter in Tehran - with whom she has collaborated for
several years - who transforms her photos into large-scale paintings. In his hands, he re-imagines the photograph, turning it into a
vibrant larger-than-life portrait on the side of a building, which Shahbazi then photographs, regaining control over the image.
In [Frau-01-2003] (2003), a young woman with smooth, ivory skin appears in three nearly identical pictures. Two capture her right
profile, the other her left. A traditio-nal Iranian rug-maker wove the images into carpets, breaking each portrait down to its
simplest form: threads and colors arranged in a grid. In its new incarnation the woman's skin looks even smoother; the carpet's soft texture
nearly brings her to life. By involving commercial fabricators in her working process, Shahbazi solicits alternative interpretations
that add new layers of meaning to the resulting works. Her latest pictures shot in Berlin, document people, places and things behind closed
doors on and around Auguststra?e.Shahbazi also manipulates viewers' expectations:
her mixture of Middle Eastern figures and urban scenes with Western landscapes and still lifes, resists any easy initial political reading;
instead the connections are left ambiguous and unresolved. To amplify this existential effect Shahbazi prints her photographs in three
different sizes and arranges disparate images alongside each other. Whether photographic prints, carpets, or murals Shahbazi's view of one
street, one person, or one city tells a story in which the viewer's own interpretation determines the ending.
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