Abbas Zahedi was born in London, England to first generation émigré parents from Iran in 1984. He completed an MA in Contemporary Photography, Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins (UAL, 2017–19). His work is laced with instances of grief and pain, but offers a vital insight into ideas surrounding ‘neo-diaspora’ and navigating the world as a second generation migrant today.
Multi-disciplinary artist Abbas Zahedi was born in 1984 in London, England to first generation Iranian émigré parents. Zahedi initially studied sciences, completing a degree in Physiology and Pharmacology at University College London (UCL) (2002–06), followed by an MBBS in Medicine, also at UCL (2007–12). However, his medical studies were cut short following the tragic death of his brother. His parents had also passed away when he was growing up, so he no longer felt a need to provide the support a career as a doctor would bring his family. Zahedi instead completed an MA in Contemporary Photography, Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins (2017–19), after working with migrant and marginalised communities in the UK.
Zahedi’s work is laced with instances of grief and pain, while offering insight into ideas surrounding ‘neo-diaspora’ and navigating the world as a second generation migrant today. His definition of ‘neo-diaspora’ focusses on ‘the predicament of being a second generation migrant, in a hyper-connected world’ (International Curators Forum). During 2010-15 Zahedi worked in a small studio in the basement of the Grove Fish Bar in Ladbroke Grove, west London. where he also occasionally created small installations in the chip shop itself and held regular symposiums, welcoming the public to discuss ideas surrounding heritage, philosophy and the arts. In 2017 after responding to an open call, Zahedi participated in the Diaspora Pavilion at that year’s Venice Biennale, which featured work by nine emerging British artists, alongside ten more established figures who took on the role of mentors. These included Yinka Shonibare, Hew Locke and Isaac Julien; other emerging participants included Larry Achiampong, Susan Pui San Lok, Paul Maheke and Khadija Saye. The Diaspora Pavilion was the first of its kind at the Biennale, exhibiting work by artists exploring diasporic themes, while also addressing the lack of representation of black and minority artists across the event. The Pavilion was restaged at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in 2018, and featured work by seven of the contributing artists. Zahedi’s presentation included: MANNA (Machine Aided Neural Networking of Affect) (2017), a site specific installation examining ‘the ways in which culture is consumed, shaped and appropriated in relation to technology and networking platforms’ (International Curators Forum via Artists’ Website). In 2019, Zahedi created Dwelling: In This Space We Grieve for his MA degree show, dedicated to his friend and fellow artist Khadija Saye who was tragically killed in the Grenfell fire (2017). The work, an empty fridge, alludes to the cause of the fire — a faulty fridge freezer, while its title plays on Saye’s 2017 work, Dwelling: In This Space We Breathe which was also exhibited at the Diaspora Pavilion. Zahedi’s works also explore his heritage, centering around drinks and drink-making procedures. His maternal family in Iran were drink-makers and often created ceremonial drinks for rituals and grieving purposes. Zahedi often engages with the practices of UK drink-makers, including craft brewers, in order to explore his British-Iranian identity. FakeBooze (2017) and Shandy Interim (2018) both saw him create drinks for distribution throughout each artwork’s performance. His 2018 Saffrock Shandy (distributed as part of Shandy Interim) was created with the Hackney brewers, Square Root London.
Zahedi’s first solo show How to Make a How From a Why? (2020) at the South London Gallery was the culmination of a six month postgraduate residency. It explored various themes including grieving, rituals and drink-making through the inclusion of rose water, which was misted from overhead sprinklers and slowly dripped into vessels placed around the installation. Rose water was often used to anoint bodies for burial, its place within the exhibition linking it to grieving practices, and his family’s own connection to these rituals. Site specificity has played a key role in much of Zahedi’s work. The location of How To Make a How From A Why’s in the South London Gallery’s Fire Station saw the artist engage with the importance of exits. His work ‘questions who can leave and who can enter, both politically and socially’ (Artist’s Website). In an interview with Juliet Jacques for the podcast Suite 212 (2020) he stated that the exhibition’s concentration on exits related to the Grenfell Fire disaster and a throwaway comment made by politician Jacob Rees Mogg in relation to the victims' inability to leave the building — wrongly stating that they lacked the ‘common sense’ to do so (Merrick, The Independent, 2019). To Zahedi, exiting is a privilege.
Zahedi has received multiple awards, including the Jerwood Arts Bursary (2019) for emerging artists to further develop their careers, and the Khadija Saye Memorial Fund Scholarship (2017) — organised in honour of Saye — to support an emerging artist ‘whose background and circumstance might not necessarily grant them access to such support’ (British Journal of Photography 2017). Abbas Zahedi's work is not represented in UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Abbas Zahedi]
Publications related to [Abbas Zahedi] in the Ben Uri Library