Ben Uri Research Unit

for the study and digital recording of the Jewish, Refugee and wide Immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900.


Samira Abbassy artist

Samira Abbassy was born in Iran in 1965; her family immigrated to the UK in 1967, and she later studied Fine Art at Birmingham Polytechnic and Canterbury College of Art. In 1998 she emigrated, settling in New York, where she continues to live and work drawing on the visual traditions of both Middle-Eastern and Western art.

Born: 1965 Ahwaz, Iran

Year of Migration to the UK: 1967


Biography

Figurative artist Samira Abbassy was born in 1965 in Ahwaz, Iran. Her family emigrated to London in 1967, when she was two years old. She studied painting at Birmingham Polytechnic before pursuing a BA in Fine Art at Canterbury College of Art and graduating in 1987. She remained in London during the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, exhibiting in London galleries, including a solo show at the Mercury Gallery in 1997. She received the M&G Purchase Prize from the Royal Academy of London the same year.

In 1998, Abbassy moved to New York, where she continues to live and work. Her exhibitions there include a two person show at John Prats Gallery in 1998 and at the British Consulate in 2000. In 2001, she co-founded the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program, a public charity dedicated to providing artists across all disciplines with space, tools, and a co-operative forum for the development of individual practice. Her practice draws on commonalities in both the Middle-Eastern and Western visual art traditions, as well as exploring issues around her personal identity. She mainly produces figurative oils and gesso paintings depicting the human figure, animals and scenes of war.

Abbassy's work appears in private and public collections including the British Government Art Collection, the British Museum, the Burger Collection in Hong Kong, the Rubin Museum in New York, the Farjaam Collection in Dubai, the Omid Foundation in Iran, and the Devi Foundation in India. Since moving to New York, Abbassy's work has been exhibited internationally in Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. She has received many prizes such as the Joan Mitchell Painting/Sculpture award (2010), the NYFA Award (2007), and a Yaddo Residency Fellowship (2006).

Related books

  • Hossein Amirsadeghi, Different Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009)

Public collections

Related organisations

  • Birmingham Polytechnic (student)
  • Canterbury College of Art (student)
  • Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (co-founder)

Related web links

Selected exhibitions

  • Redemptive Narratives, Migrating Patterns, XVA Gallery, Dubai (2017)
  • The Human Image: Masterpieces of Figurative Art from the British Museum, International Touring Exhibition, The British Museum, London (2016)
  • Narratives: Hearts, Minds & Mythologies, Bernstein Gallery, Princeton (2015)
  • Love & Ammunition, Rossi & Rossi Gallery, London (2015)
  • Bazm O Razm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2015)
  • An Autobiography and Other Confessions, XVA Gallery, Dubai (2015)
  • Conflicting Narratives, B2OA Gallery, New York (2014)
  • Istanbul Art Fair with Todd Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco (2014/13)
  • Her Stories, Taubman Museum, Washington DC (2013)
  • Incheon Women Artists' Biennale, Korea (2009)
  • Conference of the Birds, Leila Heller Gallery, London (2009)
  • 798 Beijing Biennale (2008)
  • Mirror of Inclusion, Vernacular Press, New York (2005)
  • Veiled Icon, Skoto Gallery, New York (2002)
  • Solo exhibitions, Mercury Gallery, London (1999, 1997, 1995, 1993)
  Samira Abbassy
   
Ben Uri archive

Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Samira Abbassy]

Ben Uri library

Publications related to [Samira Abbassy] in the Ben Uri Library