Sara Rahbar (born 1976) is an Iranian-born contemporary visual artist. Her work ranges from

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

to installation, all of which reveal and transform the artist's personal experiences and are intimately autobiographical. Her work explores concepts of nationalism, separation and belonging - driven by central ideas of pain, violence and the complexity of the human condition. Compelled by an instinctual obsession to piece together and dissect, her approach is reflective of her need to deconstruct her emotions and memories. She is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Biography

Sara Rahbar was born in 1976 in Tehran, Iran. In 1982, Rahbar and her family left Iran in the beginning of the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

and the early stages of the Iran-Iraq War, These experiences left many traumatic memories that have influenced her work. Rahbar studied at

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...

from 1996 until 2000 and in 2004 she continued her education at

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

in London. The first body of work that created international recognition for the artist was the Flag Series (2005–2019), in which traditional fabrics and objects are reworked as collages that form various incarnations of the American and Iranian flag, exploring ideas of national belonging, as well as the conflicting role of

flags A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have ...

as symbols of ideological and nationalistic violence. Rahbar's work is in various public museum collections including the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

, the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, and at the Davis Museum at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

, among others.

Solo exhibitions

*2020 – ''The space between us'', Carbon 12,

Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

*2019 – Nada House, Governors Island,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States *2018 – '' Carry me home'', Dallas Contemporary,

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, United States *2017 – ''Salvation,'' Carbon 12,

*2014 – ''Swarming'', Carbon 12, Dubai, United Arab Emirates *2012 – ''Restless Violence'', Carbon 12, Dubai, United Arab Emirates *2011 – ''I have no faith left for the devil to take, Sara Rahbar'', Hilger Contemporary,

Vienna, Austria Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

*2010 – ''Whatever we had to lose we lost, and in a moonless sky we marched, Sara Rahbar'', Carbon 12, Dubai,

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

*2009 – ''Contradicting Realities: Recent works by Sara Rahbar'', Tyler Art Gallery at

SUNY Oswego State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public university in Oswego, New York. It has a total student population of 6,756 and the campus size is 700 acres. SUNY Oswego offers more than 120 undergraduate, graduate ...

, United States

Group exhibitions

*2016 – ''2050 A Brief History of the Future'',

Palazzo Reale This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania {, class="wikitable" width="95%" , - bgcolor="white" !align=center, Residence !align=center, Photo !align=center, City !align=cen ...

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The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Belgium and the National Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan. *2015 – 56th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, Iran Pavilion,

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 438 bridge ...

*2014 – ''The Shade of the Moon'', Changwon Sculpture Biennial, Korea *2013 – ''Aya Haidar, Huda Lutfi, Sara Rahbar'', bischoff/weiss gallery,

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

*2013 – ''Sharjah Biennial 11, Re:emerge Towards a New Cultural Cartography'',

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sha ...

References

External links

Official website
* Video
Sara Rahbar's BBC Interview (in English)
from 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahbar, Sara 1976 births Living people 21st-century Iranian artists 21st-century Iranian women artists Alumni of Central Saint Martins American artists of Iranian descent American contemporary artists American sculptors Artists from Tehran Artists from New York City Assemblage artists Fashion Institute of Technology alumni Iranian emigrants to the United States Iranian contemporary artists Iranian sculptors