Sara Rahbar (born 1976) is a contemporary artist. Her work ranges from photography to sculpture 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 constructs her work using collected objects such as; military personal memorabilia, flags, weapons, tools and various collected objects. Sewing them onto textiles and attaching them to wood and metal. As the collected objects begin to get larger and heavier the canvases become tougher and more densely constructed until the objects take over and take on a life of their own. Very organically, the work becomes predominantly sculpture, the results carrying both literal and metaphoric weight. There is a juxtaposition between the iconographic elements that are ever-present in her work and the materials that she actively collects. It narrates a dialogue that directly ties to the objects and symbols in which we place faith. Her many compositions form and act as a tangible, physical cacophony of the relationship between individual and society. She is based in

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

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 ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

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 from 1996 until 2000 and in 2004 she continued her education at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design 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 as symbols of ideological and nationalistic violence. Rahbar's work is in various public museum collections including Centre Pompidou, British Museum, Davis Museum at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

, among others.

Solo exhibitions

*2020 – ''The space between us'', Carbon 12, Dubai, United Arab Emirates *2019 – Nada House, Governors Island,

, United States *2018 – '' Carry me home'', Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, United States *2017 – ''Salvation,'' Carbon 12, Dubai, United Arab Emirates *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 *2010 – ''Whatever we had to lose we lost, and in a moonless sky we marched, Sara Rahbar'', Carbon 12, Dubai, United Arab Emirates *2009 – ''Contradicting Realities: Recent works by Sara Rahbar'', Tyler Art Gallery at SUNY Oswego,

, United States

Group exhibitions

*2016 – ''2050 A Brief History of the Future'', Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Belgium and the National Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan. *2015 – 56th Venice Biennale, Iran Pavilion,

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

*2014 – ''The Shade of the Moon'', Changwon Sculpture Biennial, Korea *2013 – ''Aya Haidar, Huda Lutfi, Sara Rahbar'', bischoff/weiss gallery, London, England *2013 – ''Sharjah Biennial 11, Re:emerge Towards a New Cultural Cartography'', Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

References

External links

Sara Rahbar's official website
* Video
Sara Rahbar's BBC Interview (in English)
from 2014

articles on Saatchi Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahbar, Sara 1976 births Living people People from Tehran 21st-century Iranian artists Artists from New York City Alumni of Central Saint Martins Fashion Institute of Technology alumni Iranian contemporary artists American contemporary artists Iranian sculptors 21st-century Iranian women artists Assemblage artists American sculptors American artists of Iranian descent