Soheila Sokhanvari ( b. 1964) received her BA in Art History and Fine Arts from Anglia Ruskin University in 2005, a postgraduate diploma in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art and Design in 2006 and an MFA from Goldsmiths College in 2011 and was a studio artist at Wysing Arts Centre from 2013 to 2024. Sokhanvari is an Iranian-born artist whose multidisciplinary work weaves layers of political histories with bizarre, mysterious and often humorous narratives that she leaves open to viewers to complete.
Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) Retrospective, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden Baden, Germany (2027); Salon, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach (2025); Rebel, Rebel, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark (2024); We Could Be Heroes..., Heong Gallery, Downing College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK (2024); Rebel, Rebel, The Curve, Barbican Centre, London, UK (2022); Addicted to Love, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2019); Salam Salam, Installation commissioned by the Magic of Persia Foundation (2018); LDWN, installation at Victoria Station, London, a collaboration between the Tate Collective and City Hall, UK (2018), the travelling group show “I AM” Jordan, London and USA (2018); Homeland at Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Germany (2017); Paradise Lost, Jerwood Project Space, London, UK (2017).
Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Pattern: Rhythm and Repetition, Pallant House, East Sussex, UK (2024); Contemporary Collecting: David Hockney to Cornelia Parker, British Museum, London, UK (2024); Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London, UK (2024); Act 3. The Horse and the Power / Hesten og magten, Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm, Næstved, Denmark (2024); Mirror, Mirror, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2024); EXPO Chicago, Kristin Hjellgjerde Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA (2024); A Spirit Inside, travelling exhibition, Compton Verney, UK (2024); Act 1: The Origin of the Horse / Hestens oprindelse, Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm, Næstved, Denmark (2024); The Time of our Lives, Drawing Room, London, UK; A Gathering of Friends: Prints from Kip Gresham Editions, Fen Ditton Gallery, Cambridge, UK (2024); The Bunker Artspace (Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody), The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, USA (2023), A Spirit Inside, The Lightbox, Woking, UK (2023); In the Eye of the Collector, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2023); Role Models: Portraits of Poets and Writers, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK (2023); SIMURGH. TEN WOMAN ARTISTS FROM IRAN., Galerie Crone, Berlin, Germany (2023); Realism, Dastan Gallery at Frieze No. 9 Cork Street, London, UK (2023); The NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2020-2021); Devil's in the Detail, Kristin Hjellegjerde, London, UK (2020-2021); Drawing Together, Martin Hall Gallery of Loughborough University, UK (2020); 20 for 2020, New Arts Gallery, Walsall, UK (2020); Dr T Frangenberg's Collection, Wolfson College, Cambridge, UK (2020); LDN WMN, Foyle’s Gallery, London, UK (2019); Atelier 34zero Museum Collection, BWA Gallery, Katowice, Poland (2019); Art Dubai with Kristin Hjelegjerde Gallery, Berlin & London, Germany & UK (2019); Imago Mundi, Trieste, at Salone deglie Incanti, Italy (2018); Volta 13 Basel with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Switzerland (2017); Crossroads Art Fair, London, UK (2016); London Art Fair with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2016); Champagne Life at Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2016), where she showed her iconic piece Moje Sabz; The Armory Show, New York, USA (2015); Hey, I’m Mr. Poetic at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, UK (2014); Editions at Edge of Arabia, Jeddah, UAE (2014); The Future Can Wait with Channel 4’s New Sensations at Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2013) manmadegod, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2012).
Highlights and Collections
Soheila Sokhanvari's exhibition Rebel, Rebel was nominated for the 2024 Sky Arts Awards celebrating the best of British and Irish culture. Sokhanvari has been shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2015, the The Future Can Wait in 2013, in Catlin Prize in 2012, exTRAct, Copenhagen, in 2011 and The Young Gods. Sokhanvari's work can be found in international private and public collections, including the Government Art Collection, UK; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA; Newark Museum of Art, Newark, USA; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; The New Art Gallery Walsall, UK; The Bunker Artspace Museum, USA; Easton Capital/John Friedman Collection, USA; Frank Cohen Collection, UK; Benjamin Khalili Collection, USA; Shahriar Maleki Collection, UK; Saatchi Gallery Collection, UK; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK; The Women's Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, UK; The Bagri Foundation, London, UK; Dangxia Foundation, China; The Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK.