BIOGRAPHY

Born 1976 in Tehran, Iran

Lives and works in New York, USA

Sara Rahbar pursued an interdisciplinary study program in New York and also studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and design in London.

She left her birthplace during the period of immense upheaval that followed the revolution in Iran and the start of the Iran-Iraq war. Her work explores concepts of nationalism, separation and belonging - driven by central ideas of pain, violence and the complexity of the human condition. 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 has exhibited in art institutions all over the world including but not limited to; Queensland Museum, The Museum of Art and Design in New York, The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Musee National D'Art Moderne, The Saatchi gallery amongst others. Her work has been included in several international Triennials and Biennials including; Changwon Sculpture Biennial,Korea, The Venice Biennial, The 7th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Australia and the Sharjah Biennial. Her works are in the permanent collections at; The British Museum of Art, The Center Pompidou, The Davis Museum, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art in Australia and the Sharjah Art Foundation.

She has been a teaching artist for the Queens museum of art, teaching Rikers Island Correctional Educators and at the Woman for Afghan Woman center. She has also taught classes for; Dallas Contemporary, North Carolina Museum of art & the Katonah Museum of Art. Between 2005-2010 she traveled back and forth between the US and Iran. While in Iran she worked as a production coordinator and a film photographer for various independent films and documentaries, as well as documenting the 2005 presidential elections. She has had speaking engagements at; The British Museum of art, The Museum of Art and Design, Dallas Contemporary, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Queens Museum of Art, El Museo del barrio and The School of Visual Arts.