Sepideh Salehi is a multidisciplinary artist born in Tehran. She left Iran to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy, where she received her MFA in Visual Art and Multimedia. Working across a wide range of media, Salehi employs processes that include painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, video art, and painting in motion.
By incorporating elements of storytelling and letter writing, Salehi reflects on her experiences growing up in post-1979 Tehran. She weaves personal narrative with cultural history, examining the ways in which she and other women have navigated shifting social and political landscapes.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including A Bridge Between You and Everything, curated by Shirin Neshat at High Line Nine, New York; the Art and Social Activism Festival, New York; Photo London at Somerset House, London; Mirrored Re-Collection at the University of Maryland Stamp Gallery; REVEAL at The Space by ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles; If So, What? at Roya Khadjavi Projects, San Francisco; Patterning, curated by Samantha Friedman at Kentler Gallery, Brooklyn; STRAPPA Rogue Space, Chelsea, New York; the Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles; the Cutlog Art Fair, New York; Tribeca Video Art, New York; the Centre for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci; the Virgiliano Museum; and the International Bologna Art Fair, Italy.
She currently lives and works between Washington, D.C. and New York.
Sepideh Salehi CV
Born in Tehran, Iran
Lives and works between Washington DC and New York
EDUCATION
2007 Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, Italy — MFA, Visual Art & Multimedia
2005 Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, Italy — BFA, Studio Art
1998 Islamic Azad University, Tehran — BA, English Language & Translation
SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2025 Galleria Anna Marra, Rome, Italy
2018 Mirrored Re-Collection, Stamp Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
REVEAL, The Space by ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles, CA
2016 STRAPPA, Dialogue & Performance, Rogue Space, New York, NY
2013 TRACES: Drawings in Motion, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 PORTRAITURE NOW: Iranian Contemporary, ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles
Zona Maco Art Fair, presented by Galleria Anna Marra, Mexico City
2024 South Hampton Art Fair, curated by Roya Khadjavi, South Hampton, NY
WE COULD BE HEROES, JUST FOR ONE DAY, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY
MIA Photo Fair, curated by Roya Khadjavi Projects, Milan
Intrecci, Galleria Anna Marra, Rome
Zona Maco Art Fair, presented by Galleria Anna Marra, Mexico City
2023 MIA Photo Fair, curated by Roya Khadjavi Projects, Milan
Le Energie della Persia, Bologna, Italy
2022 MashUP, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, MD
2021 Once Upon a Time, The Space by ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles
March Group Exhibition, The Space by ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles
2020 Art in Isolation, Middle East Institute, Washington DC
Self-reflection, High Line Nine Gallery, New York
Summer Group Exhibition, The Space by ADVOCARTSY, Los Angeles
Focus on Flatfiles, Kentler Gallery, Brooklyn
Art Mutters (Alone and United), Triangle, New York
2019 A Bridge Between You and Everything, High Line Nine, New York
Art & Social Activism Festival, Roya Khadjavi Projects, New York
Photo London, Somerset House, London
Focus Iran 3: Contemporary Photography and Video, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles
2018 ART BRIEF IV: Iranian Contemporary, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco
VAEFF – Video Art & Experimental Film Festival, Tribeca Film Center, New York
2017 The Poetics of Diaspora, Advocartsy / Artnet, Los Angeles
Patterning, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn
ART BRIEF III: THE (UN)DRAPED WOMAN, Arena 1 Gallery, Los Angeles
2016 Peace on Paper, Iran Contemporary Art Biennale, Niavaran Cultural Center, Tehran
2015 Archimedes’ Bathtub, Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, NY
Focus Iran: Contemporary Photography and Video, Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles
2014 ARE WE ALREADY GONE? Artists on the Art of Leaving, Flicker Lab, New York
Circumstances, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn
2011 Bilateral Trace: Four Emerging Artists from Iran, Strohl Art Center, Chautauqua
MARKED DIFFERENCES, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn
2010 WAR & PEACE, Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn
PROXIMITY, PAH! Space, Fribourg
2009 The Map Is Not the Territory, Dumbo Art Center, Brooklyn
2008 Aftermath, Target Gallery, Torpedo Factory Art Center, VA
One Planet, One Experiment, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago
2007 International Contemporary Art Fair – European Young Artists, Mulhouse
Echi da Tehran, Palazzo Comunale, Pistoia
2006 Opus Liber Project: Book of Art, Academy of Arts & Design, Florence
Bologna International Contemporary Art Fair, Florence
2005 Opus Liber Project: Book of Art, Mantova
Opus Liber Project: Book of Art, Urbino
LECTURES & TALKS
2020 Art in Isolation, Middle East Institute, Washington DC
2019 Shirin Neshat in Conversation with Iranian Women Artists, NYU, New York
Artist Talk, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, MD
The Only Divisions That Matter Now, Loyola University, Baltimore
2018 Artist Lecture, University of Maryland, College Park
SELECTED AWARDS & PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2020 Pardis for Children, Workshop on Modern & Contemporary Iranian Art, New York
2019 Denbo Fellowship, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, MD
2014–2017 NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists, New York — Mentor
2013–2016 Asia Society, New York — Educational Workshops
2006 Teaching Fellowship, Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, Italy
