Shirin Aliabadi

An art history and archaeology graduate of the University of Paris, Shirin Aliabadi was a multidisciplinary artist who lived between Paris and Tehran. Aliabadi was widely recognised for her practice, which looked at the behavioral hybridity of her home country’s youth and the women’s empowerment expressions that emerged in the face of adversity. The female protagonists of Aliabadi's most known series Girls in Carsand Miss Hybrid presented themselves as a radical counter-design to the officially propagated image of women, and displayed a young generation’s ways of breaking free from regulations.

Aliabadi's work has been exhibited internationally. Her solo exhibitions include Girls Night, The Farjam Foundation, Dubai, UAE (2012); Eye Love You, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2010); Operation Supermarket, The Counter Gallery, London, UK (2006).

Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including; Women Defining Women In Contemporary Art Of The Middle East And Beyond, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA (2023); Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2022); Epic Iran, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (2021);Kitsch ou pas Kitsch?,Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris, France (2015); Art from Elsewhere, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, UK (2014);City Lives, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, UK (2013); Stadt in Sicht(City in Sight):Works from the Deutsche Bank Collection, Museum am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany (2013); Magic of Persia, Salsali Private Museum, Dubai, UAE (2012); Iran Inside Out, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA (2009); and Raad O Bargh, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2009).

Her work can be found in public and private collections around the world including; The Farjam Foundation, Dubai, UAE; Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol, UK; and Collection of Deutsche Bank AG, Germany.