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.
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).
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Samira Abbassy]
Publications related to [Samira Abbassy] in the Ben Uri Library