A self-taught artist, Afsoon spent her childhood in Iran and her youth in California before settling in London in 1988. Her nomadic life is reflected in her work, where East merges with West, resulting in imagery that feels simultaneously familiar and foreign.
Working across mediums including photography, linocut, collage, and etching, Afsoon’s practice aims to preserve her cultural past and explore nostalgia through visual storytelling and iconography. Her art reveals the introspective and often difficult nature of being a woman artist in the Iranian diaspora, contending with historical allusions and the artist’s own carefully crafted, playful visual language.
Afsoon has exhibited internationally, and her works are held in the collections of LACMA, the British Museum, the Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent Collection, and the Farjam Collection, among others.
Afsoon CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Searching For Myself in the Forest of Bewitchment, ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2016 Persian Expression, Shirin Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2013 Traveling Birds and the Flags of Dharma, The Long Gallery, London, UK
Once Upon a Time, 127 Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco
2011 Icons of the Four Corners, Xerxes Gallery, London, UK
2010 The Fairy Tale Continues, LTMH Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2008 Persian Speaking Objects, Asia House, London, UK
2007 Conference of the Birds, Foreign Press Association Club, London, UK
BIENNIALS
2014 Marrakech Biennale, Marrakech, Morocco
2009 IV Splitgraphic International Graphic Art Biennial, Split, Croatia
The 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts, International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND AUCTIONS
2025 Portraiture Now: Iranian Contemporary, ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles, USA
2024 Vintage Modern, ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles, USA
2023 Totalitarian Props, Africa Centre, London, UK
2022 Making the Postcard: Women’s Imaginarium, Part II, Camden Image Gallery, London, UK
Alien Artefacts, Morley College Gallery, London, UK
2021 Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, The British Museum, London, UK
2020 Women and Health, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
2019 A Bridge Between You and Everything, High Line Nine Gallery, New York, USA
Making the Postcard: Women’s Imaginarium, Willesden Gallery, London, UK
We Grow into the Forest, Art Pavilion, London, UK
2018 In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, USA
The World Is My Home, ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles, USA
In Einem Fernen, Fernen Land, Fairytale Museum, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany
Two Women: Afsoon and Paula Rego, De Queeste Art, Belgium
Abolish 153, Kuwait
In a Country Far Far Away, Art Pavilion, London, UK
2017 Women and War Festival, London, UK
I AM, Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Amman, Jordan (traveling exhibition)
Abolish 153, Kuwait
2016 Iranian Voices, The British Museum, London, UK
Lointains Souvenirs, 127 Gallery, Marrakech, Morocco
Vinyl Icons, Newcastle, UK
Persian Colours, Shirin Gallery, New York, USA
2015 Paper Conversations, Hafiz Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Mirage, Haleh Gallery, Munich, Germany
Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here, Harold F. Johnson Library Center, Hampshire College, Massachusetts, USA
Opening Up, Francis Boeske Project, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Fem. Pluriel, Dar Bellarj, Marrakech, Morocco
2014 Les Portraits, Epi Plage, Saint-Tropez, France
AYYAM Auction, Dubai, UAE
The Wise Men of the East, The British Museum, London, UK
2013 Women Collectors, Women Artists, Lloyd’s Club, London, UK
Foto Fever, Paris & Brussels
ROOTS, Haleh Gallery, Munich, Germany
Iran Eternel, Epi Plage, Saint-Tropez, France
2012 The Horse: From Arabia to Royal Ascot, The British Museum, London, UK
The Queen’s Jubilee Exhibition, The Pump House Gallery, London, UK
AYYAM Auction, Dubai, UAE
Christie’s Auction, Dubai, UAE
2011 Interaction. Art & Media, AB Gallery, Lucerne, Switzerland
Jasmin: Orientalischer Sommer, Sabine Knust Gallery, Munich, Germany
LTMH Summer Show, LTMH Gallery, New York, USA
Popli Foundation Auction, London, UK
Christie’s Auction, Dubai, UAE
Bonhams Auction, Dubai, UAE
Common Threads, Al Serkal Heritage House, Dubai, UAE
Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2010–2011 The Dropped Pearls, Uusi Kipina Gallery, Lahti, Finland
2010 Concerning Angels, Janet Rady Fine Arts, London, UK
One Night with Rostam, London, UK
Abu Dhabi Art Fair, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Magic of Persia Auction, UAE
Istanbul Art Fair, Istanbul, Turkey
Iran Today, Galerie Brigitte Schenk, Cologne, Germany
400 Women, London, UK
AAF (Affordable Art Fair), London, UK
Iran Today, Il Gabbiana Gallery, Rome, Italy
The Art Flexum, International Artist Colony, Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary
Art in Marylebone, London, UK
The 5th International Ex Libris Contest, Biblioteca di Bodio Lomnago, Italy
2009 In a Different Light: Artists from Iran, Osborne Samuel Gallery, London, UK
Chrysalid, Amelia Johnson Contemporary Art Gallery, Hong Kong
Magic of Persia Art Auction, Dubai, UAE
2008 The Drawing Process, Green Cardamom Gallery, London, UK
ArtRoutes, Waterhouse & Dodd Gallery, London, UK
2007 Magic of Persia Art Auction, Dubai, UAE
Summer Show, London Print Studio, London, UK
2006 London Print Studio, London, UK
COLLECTIONS
The British Museum, London, UK
La Fondation Pierre Bergé, Paris, France
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA, USA
Sabancı Collection, Istanbul, Turkey
Salsali Private Museum, UAE
Farjam Collection, UAE
PUBLICATIONS / FILMS
Making the Postcard: Women’s Imaginarium, edited by Salma Ahmad Caller
Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, Venetia Porter, 2020
In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art, Linda Komaroff, 2018
Contemporary Iranian Art: From the Street to the Studio, Talinn Grigor, 2014
The Horse: From Arabia to Royal Ascot, The British Museum Press, London, 2012
The New York Times, Editorial Page, January 6, 2010
Pearls on the Ocean Floor, documentary film by Robert Adanto, 2010
The 28th Biennial of Graphic Arts, International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2009
Different/Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art, Hossein Amirsadeghi, Thames & Hudson, 2009
Drawn from Life, Part One: Drawing Process, Green Cardamom Gallery, Catalogue, 2008
A Major Exhibition of Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, ArtRoutes, Catalogue, 2008
