Samira Abbassy

Samira Abbassy
Born	1965 (age 58–59) Ahvaz, Imperial State of Persia (now Iran)
Other names	Samira al-Abbasi, Samira Abbasi
Education	Birmingham Polytechnic, Canterbury College of Art (BFA)
Occupation	Visual artist
Known for	Painting, drawing
Website	www.samiraabbassy.com

Samira Abbassy (born 1965) is an Iranian-born British painter and draftsperson, of Arab heritage. Her work address issues of mythology, female deities, psyche, memory, and the diaspora.^[1][2][3] Abbassy lives in New York City, and previously lived in London.^[4]

Early life and education

Samira Abbasy was born in 1965 to an Arab family, in the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, Imperial State of Persia (now Iran).^[5] Her family moved to London when she was two years old, and she was raised in Kent.^[6][7] 

She studied drawing at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University) and then Canterbury College of Art (now Kent Institute of Art & Design), where she obtained a BFA degree in painting in 1987.^[5]

Career

Abbasy began making art in the 1980s. After graduating, she exhibited her work in London for ten years, and then moved to New York City in 1998.^[7] Abbasy's work is a marriage between Western art and Eastern art traditions, including referencing Christian iconography, as well as Persian and Indian miniature painting, Chinese painting, and Qajar court painting.^[6]

She was awarded a fellowship by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in 2007.^[8] She was affiliated with the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective.^[9] The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) awarded her a lifetime membership, in recognition of her work in developing the EFA Studio Program.^[10]

Abbasy's artworks are in public museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art,^[11] the British Museum,^[12] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Grey Art Museum collection at New York University.^[13]

See also

• List of Iranian women artists

References

1. "Crossing cultures on canvas". Newsday. 2007-10-01. p. 89. Retrieved 2024-06-26 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "The Power of Understatement". The Boston Globe. 2017-06-23. pp. G2. Retrieved 2024-06-26 – via Google Books.
3. "Iranian Women Get Moment in Sun". Hartford Courant. 2010-04-01. pp. CAL19. Retrieved 2024-06-26 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Genocchio, Benjamin (2007-10-07). "Born in Iran, She Seeks Her Identity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
5. Keshmirshekan, Hamid; Irving, Mark; Downey, Anthony (2009). Different Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art. Thames & Hudson. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-500-97697-5 – via Google Books.
6. Arango, Jorge S. (2023-06-18). "Artist Explores Masculinity, Identity in Portland Show". Portland Press Herald. pp. E2. Retrieved 2024-06-26 – via Google Books.
7. Frizzell, Deborah (2021-11-01). "Ghosts of Migration". Cultural Politics. 17 (3): 302–313. doi:10.1215/17432197-9305377. ISSN 1743-2197.
8. "Samira Abbassy". Darz.art. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
9. Cotter, Holland (2012-08-16). "'Her Stories'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
10. "Samira Abbassy". Interviews from Yale University Radio WYBCX. 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
11. "Samira Abbassy, Eternal War, Second Circle". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
12. "Collections Online Samira Abbasy". British Museum. Retrieved 2024-06-26.
13. "This World is Only Lasts Two Days: Donya Hamin Doh Ruze". Evergreen Review. Spring 2023. Retrieved 2024-06-26.