Born in Tehran, Iran- based in Toronto, ON
Workshop: sahrra.ca
Email: sararahmanianstudio@gmail.com
IG:sararahmanian
Sara Rahmanian lends unexpected scale and distortion to mundane objects, utilizing
creativity as an act of resistance against the emptiness of diasporic existence. She
explores this position through acrylic painting, drawing on both the possibilities and
limitations of the medium. The use of fluorescent colors serves to enhance visibility
and establish a connection with contemporary technology. Her artistic practice begins
with a simple drawing culled from a memory or fleeting moment. These gestures become
embodied through painting and subsequently extend into installation or sculpture,
seeking to actively engage the viewer within the work. Often, Rahmanian defamiliarizes
everyday scenes - warping proportions, enlarging features, and flattening planes -
while a posthumanist sensibility produces a fluid visual language that moves between
figuration and abstraction. Wry humor and inventive gestures create unsettled viewing
experiences that challenge the knowability of self, object, and place. She graduated
from Yale School of Art with an MFA in Painting
and Printmaking in 2021 and her works have been shown in solo and group shows in Iran,
UAE, Italy, Mexico and the UnitedStates.
EDUCATION
2019-21 Yale School of Art, M.F.A.in Painting & Printmaking, New Haven, CT
2010-15 Tehran University Of Art,B.A.Painting,Tehran, Iran
SOLO | TWO PERSON SHOW
2024 Maybe Tomorrow, ILY2, Portland, OR
2023 Mirror as Water Stable, theStable, S-Chanf, Switzerland
2022 Quotidian/Episodes, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Find the needle or let her die, Across project, Milan, Italy
2017 Hidden with doubt, Delgosha Gallery, Tehran, Iran
PARTICIPATION AND GROUP SHOWS
2026 Wind-Born: Contemporary Art Exhibition by Iranian Toronto Based Artists Emmanuel Collage,Toronto, Canada
2024 Young and Restless, theStable, S-Chanf, Switzerland
2023 And down below the earth shown bright, ILY2, Portland, OR
2023 Untold Narrative – A Seductive Echo, Hostos Community College, New York, NY
2022 Chambres d’Amis: IKEA, Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium
2022 Apple in the dark, Harkawik Gallery, New York, NY
2021 Shadows, theStable, S-Chanf, Switzerland
2021 In Praise of Shadows, Lyles & King gallery, New York, NY
2021 She came to stay, Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy
2019 Urban mural group project skate park, Aldar Supporting Co, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2018 Self-Plate Art Group Exhibition, EV Design Studio, Tehran, Iran
2018 Rad-e Ani Painting, Nak Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2016 Domestic Affairs 2, Isabelle Gallery Dubai, UAE
2016 Domestic Affairs, Isabelle Gallery Dubai, UAE
CURATORIAL PROJECT
2010-2012 Curator Assistant in Imago Mundi Collection, IRAN,
FAIRS
2026 Material Art Fair, ILY2, Mexico City, Mexico
2025 Felix Art Fair, ILY2, Los Angeles, CA
2024 NADA New York, ILY2, New York, NY
AWARDS AND NOMINATION
2021 Clifford Ross Scholarship Award, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
2020 Critical Practice Grant; Yale School of Art
2024 Nomination100 Early-Career Artists 2023/2024, Art Cube, USA
2026 Newcomer and Refugee Artist Grant Mentorship Grant, Toronto Art Council, Toronto, ON