Shirazeh Houshiary

Born Shiraz, Iran, 1955

Houshiary first trained in theatre, turning to visual arts after her arrival in London in 1973. She studied at the Chelsea School of Art, London, 1976–9, was junior fellow at Cardiff College of Art,Wales, 1979–80, and had her first solo exhibition at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, 1980. Her works have been included in significant group exhibitions, among them Aperto 82, the Venice Biennale, 1982, and Les Magiciens de la Terre at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1989. Initially known for her sculptures, she turned to painting and drawing in 1992. In 2003 she created a four-screen video installation, Breath, in which her drawings come to life. She followed this with Breath II, 2004, a sculpture of limestone bricks with audio equipment. Her work is varied but is imbued throughout with her interest in abstract forms and a sense of spirituality.The poetry of the thirteenth-century Sufi mystic Jalal al- Din Rumi has been a direct source of inspiration for many of her works. In 1994 Houshiary was shortlisted for the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery, London. Her works have been exhibited worldwide and recently included in Turning Points – 20th-Century British Sculpture,Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004, and Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2006, where Houshiary had a whole area dedicated to her work White Shadow. She created Bloom, 2006, in response to a commission by Mitsuo, Japan, for the Tokyo Midtown Project. She is currently working on A New East Window for St Martin-in-the-Fields, in the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields,Trafalgar Square, London. She lives and works in London.