Multimedia artist Shirazeh Houshiary was born in Shiraz, Iran in 1955. In 1974 she immigrated to the UK to study at Chelsea School of Art, London (1976–79) and subsequently at Cardiff College of Art (1979–80). Initially associated with the New British Sculpture movement of the 1980s and nominated for the Turner Prize in 1994, her practice has since developed to encompass architectural projects, film, installation and painting.
Multimedia artist Shirazeh Houshiary was born on 15 January 1955 in Shiraz, Iran, a city rich in literary and art history. Having completed secondary school and attended university in the 'colourless' capital of Tehran, in 1974 Houshiary immigrated to London. 'In Iran, I was more interested in theatre [...] My real art education was in England' (A Conversation with Shirazeh Houshiary, Ocula, 17 May 2018). In 1976 she enrolled at Chelsea School of Art, graduating in 1979 with BA in Fine Art. She became a Junior Fellow at Cardiff College of Art in 1979 and held her first solo exhibition at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff in 1980. Subsequently associated with a new generation of British sculptors, including Tony Cragg, Richard Deacon and Anish Kapoor, in 1982 Houshiary joined Lisson Gallery, a leading commercial gallery in London, where two years later she held a solo show. In 1994 she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and in 1997 was appointed Professor at the London Institute (now University of the Arts).
Since rising to prominence as a sculptor, Houshiary's practice has grown to encompass architectural projects, film and painting: 'As an art student I was making a lot of installation art and experimenting with light [...} I moved to sculpture from there and from sculpture I moved into everything' (Ibid.). Challenging viewers' perceptions of time, space, and materiality, 'her works often engage opposing ideas and states of being, including transparency and opacity, sound and silence, energy and inertia, and light and darkness' (Lehmann Maupin Gallery). Veils, membranes and mists are leitmotifs in work that tries to visualise modes of perception, spanning the scientific and the cosmic while drawing on sources as wide-ranging as Renaissance painting, Sufism, shamanism and science, as well as contemporary physics and poetry. In their composition, rhythm, structure, and depiction of light, for example, her works evoke the formal elements of Renaissance painting while her use of pattern, repetition and intricate markings more closely align them with Middle Eastern and Islamic cultural traditions. Elsewhere she has spoken of the significance of the relationship between order and chaos in her practice. 'The universe is in a process of disintegration,' she reflects, 'everything is in a state of erosion, and yet we try to stabilise it. This tension fascinates me and it’s at the core of my work' (Lisson Gallery).
Houshiary’s use of word and text is a common denominator within her oeuvre, though their representation constantly evolves. Breath (2003) was the artist's first video project, a digital animation presented on four screens in which she states, 'I set out to capture my breath[...] find the essence of my own existence, transcending name, nationality, cultures' (Ibid.). The mist is a visualisation of the breath, while the soundtrack of Buddhist liturgical music and quotations from the 12th-century German nun Hildegard von Bingen unify into an abstract meditation. Furthermore, the word acts as the formal manifestation of breath, misting the screen in an asymmetric, rhythmic movement that is undeniably respiratory in nature. Breath presents the stripped-down representation of an existence that is neither named nor categorised, but simply human.
Houshiary's work has featured in numerous exhibitions throughout the UK including at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1989), Camden Arts Centre, London (1993), Islamic Gallery, British Museum (1997) and Tate Liverpool (2003). Veil (1999), referred to as a 'protest against knowing' for certain what is in front of us (TateShots, 2014), is currently on display at Tate Britain as part of Walk Through British Art: Sixty Years. Houshiary has also received a number of important commissions including East Window (2008)- a cross, warped and spanning from a circular motif, as if reflected in water- and Altar (2011), created in collaboration with architect Pip Horne, both as part of the renovated interior of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London. Houshiary's work is held in many UK public collections including the Arts Council, British Council, British Museum, Southampton City Art Gallery and Tate. Shirazeh Houshiary lives and works in London.