Samira Abbassy (born 1965) is an Iranian-born British painter and draftsperson, of Arab heritage. Her work address issues of mythology, female deities, psyche, memory, and the diaspora. ^{[1] [2] [3]} Abbassy lives in New York City, and previously lived in London. ^[4]

Early life and education

Samira Abbasy was born in 1965 to an Arab family, in the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, Imperial State of Persia (now Iran). ^[5] Her family moved to London when she was two years old, and she was raised in Kent. ^{[6] [7]} 

She studied drawing at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University) and then Canterbury College of Art (now Kent Institute of Art & Design), where she obtained a BFA degree in painting in 1987. ^[5]

Career

Abbasy began making art in the 1980s. After graduating, she exhibited her work in London for ten years, and then moved to New York City in 1998. ^[7] Abbasy's work is a marriage between Western art and Eastern art traditions, including referencing Christian iconography, as well as Persian and Indian miniature painting, Chinese painting, and Qajar court painting. ^[6]

She was awarded a fellowship by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in 2007. ^[8] She was affiliated with the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective. ^[9] The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) awarded her a lifetime membership, in recognition of her work in developing the EFA Studio Program. ^[10]

Abbasy's artworks are in public museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ^[11] the British Museum, ^[12] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Grey Art Museum collection at New York University. ^[13]

See also

• List of Iranian women artists

References