Biography
Setareh Shahbazi is best known for her drawings and installations, which are based primarily on found visual material she has digitally manipulated. Although the human figure has always featured prominently in her compositions, often drawn from old portraits and photographs, the artist’s more recent output has positioned the human figure, and increasingly the body, at the centre of contemporary image-making practices that far surpass the medium of photography.
Shahbazi’s work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Gypsum Gallery, Cairo (2013, 2016); 98Weeks Project Space, Beirut (2010); Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, US (2008) and Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany (2004). Her work has been part of international group exhibitions at Sharjah Biennial 13 (2017); Kadist Art Foundation, Paris (2012); Beirut Art Center (2011); Asar Gallery, Tehran (2010); Frankfurter Kunstverein Frankfurt (2007); Fondation Cartier, Paris (2005) and Rooseum, Malmö, Sweden (2003), among others.
Shahbazi was shortlisted for the Abraaj Group Art Prize (2015). She completed a one-year DAAD research residency in Beirut in collaboration with the Arab Image Foundation (2003) and has also participated in residencies at Villa Romana, Florence (guest artist, 2011) and Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2005). She studied scenography and media arts at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, Germany (1997-2003).
Born in 1978 in Tehran, Shahbazi currently lives and works between Berlin and Beirut.
This person was part of Sharjah Biennial 13.