Shadi Ghadirian

Photographer Shadi Ghadirian was born in 1974 in Tehran, graduated with a BA in Photography from the Azad University, Tehran (1998), and swiftly became one of the most celebrated photographers in Iran, where she lives today.

She has exhibited widely, including solo shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California (2008); Photography Festival of Istanbul, Turkey (2007); Gallery B21, Dubai (2007); Al Maamal Foundation, East Jerusalem, Palestine (2006); Villa Moda, Kuwait (2002); Silk Road Gallery, Tehran (2002); Guildhall University, London ( 2000) and Golestan Gallery, Tehran (1999).

Her numerous group exhibitions include “Biennale Donna”, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Ferrara (2010); “Word into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East”, DIFC, Dubai (2008) and The British Museum, London (2006); Noorderlicht Photofestival, Netherlands (2007); “Representation and Use of the Body in Art”, Galerie Helene Lamarque, Paris (2006); “Ey! Iran: Contemporary Iranian Photography”, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Australia (2006); “Images of the Middle East”, DCCD, Copenhagen, Denmark (2006); “The Veiled Mirror: Contemporary Iranian Photography”, De Santos Gallery, Houston, Texas (2006); “Blessed are the Merciful”, Feigen Contemporary, New York (2006); “After the Revolution”, San Sebastian, Spain (2005); “West by East”, CCCB, Barcelona (2005); “Far Near Distance”, The House of World Culture (HKW), Berlin (2004); Sharjah International Biennal VI (2003); the touring exhibition “The Veil” at The New Art Gallery, Walsall, Liverpool and Oxford (2003); the touring exhibition “Harem Fantasies and the New Sheherezades”, CCCB Barcelona and Lyon (2003); “Glimpses of Iran”, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece (2002); “Iranian Contemporary Art”, Barbican Art Centre, London (2001); “Regards Persans”, Espace Electra, Paris (2001); “Inheritance”, Leighton House Museum, London (2000); and “Ekbatana?”, Nikolaj Contemporary Art Centre, Copenhagen (2000).

Ghadirian’s work is in several public collections, including The British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum in London; The Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (MUMOK); and Musée des Arts Contemporains, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.

Selected publications include “Shadi Ghadirian: A Woman Photographer from Iran” by Rose Issa (Saqi Books, 2008); “Iranian Photography Now” by Rose Issa (Hatje Cantz, 2008); and “Iranian Contemporary Art” by Rose Issa (Booth-Clibborn Editions, London, 2001)