Evaluator Sara Niroobakhsh (Artist)

Iranian-born artist Sara Niroobakhsh, has worked as a professor in Tehran, and is established internationally for her performative and visual concepts that expose the feminine psyche. The inner dialogue of a woman’s duty vs. desire is found in all of the artist’s works including paintings, video installations and etc. Recent exhibitions include Czech China Contemporary Museum in Beijing, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, CICA Museum in South Korea. Sara’s famous work, Rice, was shown in Art Space Hamra, Beirut, 2015. Through this project, Sara has received a Residency Award at BAiR Spring Intensiv at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Calgary Canada, 2017). This is a global artist who imagines--and originates--with video, photography, paintings and found objects. Sara’s work reflects the myriad faces and archetypical roles that have been embraced by the women of Iran. The Party, her latest installation in Gallery 44 which received Ontario Art Council Grant, illustrates ritual as an artistic gesture and uses trays to reference the loss of individuality, service and the cultural connotation of 'tarof' or Iranian hospitality. Sara’s work evokes the feminine realm as she draws from the personal, mythological and cultural, threading the semiotic theme of beauty, isolation, creativity and fertility.