Shirana Shahbazi
![Shirana Shahbazi Flowers, fruits & portraits series [Voegel 01-2007]](http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/image/0009/76617/varieties/Thumbnail_320.jpg)
Shirana Shahbazi | Iran b. 1974 | Flowers, fruits & portraits series [Voegel 01-2007] | C-print on aluminium Sizes variable, Ed. of 5 | © The artist | Image courtesy: Bob van Orsouw Gallery, Zurich and Salon 94, New York
b.1974 Tehran, Iran
Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland
Trained in photography and design in Germany and Switzerland, Shirana Shahbazi has extended her grounding in photography to produce work that is architectural in scale. Described as an artist who challenges expectations, Shahbazi works across disciplines (photography, billboard painting, mural painting and weaving) and genres (portraiture, still life and landscape) while drawing on the great cultural traditions of her native Iran as well as those of Europe. She is best known for her large-scale wall-based tableaux, which combine paintings, photographs and murals and use the skills of Iranian billboard painters. These vast collages contemplate the rich iconographies and histories that inform her choice of imagery. A key source is vanitas painting — a genre of still life produced in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which often included skulls and timepieces to remind viewers of the transience and brevity of life. Shahbazi juxtaposes such imagery with other still-life traditions, such as the flowers and birds of illuminated manuscripts, which reflect the centuries-old exchange of images and ideas between Persia, Mughal India, Europe and China. For APT6, Shirana Shahbazi will present a major suite of works in the Long Gallery of the Gallery of Modern Art.
Exhibitions (solo): Barbican Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2007; Swiss Institute, New York, United Kingdom, 2007; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland, 2005. Exhibitions (group): Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates, 2005; 50th Biennale of Venice, Italy, 2003.
Installation photography
APT6 | Shirana Shahbazi | Stilleben-28-Painting-2008
