I want to develop my painting practice, through developing skills in traditional processes and experimentation with diverse materials in the utilisation of glaze techniques. I will undertake dedicated training, mentorship and allocate time for my own skills research and development. Will Kemp will facilitate my skills training objectives; he is an award-winning professional artist and teaches traditional painting techniques. He will provide three individual training workshops, tailored to my specific goals. My goals are to employ these skills in the creation of a new series of large-scale paintings based on photographs of my family home in Tehran, Iran before I was forced to leave my homeland at a young age due to political oppression.
I also want to develop an understanding of traditional techniques in Iranian miniature painting, using both traditional and synthetic materials. I will attend workshops with Mahnaz Piroozfar; an Iranian miniaturist painter with a specialism in traditional techniques and materials background. Following on from these sessions, I will undertake research and skills development. I will have 2 online mentoring sessions with Gholamhossein Nami during this period. In a tutorial with Gholamhossein, I was inspired to diversify my materials to include the use of natural earth pigments. His material expertise will support my practice innovations. I will also be using this grant towards supplementing my training with the purchase of materials such as natural earth pigments, glazing mediums and brushes to assist with my skills development and training.
Iranian miniature painting is significant to my visual practice; my first exposure to visual language and painting was through Iranian manuscript illuminations and I was only introduced to western art history when I emigrated from Iran and took on formal education towards my art practice. With dedicated research and making time, I will develop work that reflects my increased awareness of traditional techniques and processes that can be incorporated in innovative ways to address issues of displacement in my art practice. My career is at a pivotal stage as an emerging artist and this support allows me to prepare effectively for significant exhibition opportunities that support my practice ambitions.
Although my practice is concerned with my personal experiences as an artist in diaspora, my approach is distinctive in the way I draw in people from anywhere in the world to understand and relate to my work. It is due to this quality that I have been able to find demand for my visual arts practice and create an audience for my work in North America, Europe, and the UK. I am thrilled by the prospects of exhibiting my work in Darlington and reaching a new audience in a rich historical town that comprises of a diverse and varied audience. Through connecting with the art scene in County Durham, I wish to bring a fresh approach to my current development as an artist and connecting with a new audience which I have previously not had privilege to engage with. As a female artist from a minority background, I intend to create a cultural exchange through developing and presenting this new body of work funded through this grant.
I am a visual artist; my work is concerned with the fantasy of space in relation to experiences of loss, diaspora, and geographical displacement. Influenced by the experience of living and growing up in Iran before having to flee from my homeland due to political oppression, my work explores the nature of personal bond to places and objects. Taking fragments from my memories, I combine them to create a new narrative which others can engage with. In my work I often combine imagined characters and motifs in settings where the perspective is deliberately altered to create a sense of placelessness.
Growing up in Iran I was exposed to traditional Persian manuscript paintings, and my earliest exposure to visual language is informed by this experience. I was familiarised with western art history after emigrating from Iran and taking on formal studies at OCAD University where I obtained my Bachelor in Drawing & Painting, with Honours in 2016. While completing my studies, I was selected as one of the participants to spend a one-year residency in Florence, Italy as part of the competitive Florence Off-Campus Programme.
Wishing to bring a contemporary context into my painting practice, I studied in the MFA Fine Art programme at Goldsmiths, University of London between 2017-2019 and was awarded the Alfred T. Vivash Bursary for Graduate Studies. During this informative period of intensive research and making, I was able to develop a visual vocabulary that was informed by my cultural background yet situated within broader contemporary discourse in painting. I have continued to develop my practice around my personal narrative and experience as an immigrant artist, exploring the impact of external events on my emotional and psychological landscape. Central to my practice is an interest in time, memory, and remembering. My aim is to invite viewers to bring their own meanings, free from a single, fixed interpretation. Currently my work is on display at Royal Over-Seas League as part of RBA Rising Stars exhibition in association with Royal Society of British Artists. This year I was a participating artist in Good Eye Projects exhibition at Saatchi Gallery.
I have obtained an MFA in Fine Art programme at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2019. Previously, I received my Bachelor in Drawing & Painting from OCAD University, with Honours in 2016.
In 2022 I received the Emerging Visual Arts Project Grant, Ontario Arts Council, Canada and Career Catalyst: Project Grants for New Generation Artists, Ontario Arts Council, Canada. In 2021 I was long-listed for the prestigious Jacksons Painting Prize through Jacksons Art, London, UK.
In 2017 I was commissioned by Minister Deb. Mathews to create a work that was included in a group exhibition at government ministers’ building Macdonald Block Complex in Toronto, Canada.
My work has been purchased by public and commercial galleries such as The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, Canada and GNYP in Berlin, Germany.
In 2023, a detailed profile and review of my individual artistic practice was featured in Persian Mirror Online Magazine; the magazine is a member of National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada and reflects on the lives of Iranians in diaspora, covering topics on Art, Culture and Society based in Toronto, Canada. My work has also been spotlighted in 2022 at She Performs Digital, a UK-based non-profit organisation connecting female artists and their audiences.
Last year I was a Summer resident at Good Eye Projects, a competitive residency programme based in Hammersmith, London, that provides artists with free studio space alongside studio visits with industry professionals. This year I exhibited my work at Saatchi Gallery as part of Good Eye Projects residency exhibition.
Email: sabagianistudio@gmail.com
Address: Scott Ellis Gardens, 200, LONDON, NW8 9RS, GB
Local Authority: City of Westminster
