- Sara Shamsavari
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Sara Shamsavari is a British-Iranian visual artist, photographer, singer-songwriter, and activist based in London. Shamsavari's work has been described as carrying "acute socio-political messages."[1]
Early life and education
Shamsavari was born in Tehran, Iran on Iranian Independence Day (August 5), the year of the Islamic Revolution. Her mother was an Iranian Bahá'í mother and Azerbaijani-Kurdish father. At 15 months old, Shamsavari developed Wilms' tumor, a tumor of the kidneys. This, along with the persecution the family faced after the Revolution, prompted the family to escape Iran.
The family initially moved to Brazil, where they lived for three months before being granted asylum in Britain. There Shamsavari was successfully cured of cancer at Great Ormond Street Hospital, an experience which later affected her work: "I hope to inspire people towards the message of love, equality and acceptance in this troubled world we live in."[2]
Her family was progressive and humanitarian, although in her youth in the 1980s and 1990s Shamsavari experienced xenophobia and racism, including seeing National Front stickers outside her house.
Sara attended the Camberwell School of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London, and during this time experimented with painting, drawing, mixed media and photography, which by her final year dominated. She graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) and won a place to study a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) in music production and development at the University of Westminster, where she graduated in 2005.
Work
Shamsavari's work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces in London, Paris, Manchester, and New York, and has been featured in i-D, Let Them Eat Cake, The Cut, Graphotism, and The Big Issue.
Shamsavari is also a musician, performing both as a solo artist and as part of choirs and collectives. She has performed in venues including City Hall's London Living Room, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and Stratford Circus.
Exhibition Space Date I Love America Espace Pierre Cardin Paris May 2010 CIDA Overlay Project Jamme Mashid Mosque February 2010 Love in the Sky Institute of Contemporary Arts June 2009 Love is Change Pop Up Gallery Carnaby Street February 2009 I Feel Exposed London College of Communication February 2009 Beauty Untold Topshop Flagship Store December 2008 Fathers, Brothers & Sons Bar Music Hall October 2008 Positivity Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery July 2008 Moving Mountains APT Gallery June 2008 Street Portraits Work Directions 2007 You Belong to Me Gillian Catto Contemporary Gallery September 2003 Body Craze Selfridges May 2003 Street Portraits This Way Up Gallery December 2002 Kingston Focus Kingston Museum 2000 References
- ^ Akinyemi, Aaron. "Beauty Untold: Portraits from the Street" (review). Flavorpill.
- ^ Singh, Susanne. "Love is Change exhibition." Flavourmag 17 February 2009.
Categories:- Iranian emigrants to the United Kingdom
- People from Tehran
- British artists
- Iranian women artists
- Living people
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