Bahar Behbahani's research-based practice approaches landscape as a metaphor for politics and poetics. Behbahani looks into cultural landscapes both historically and in a contemporary context, posing urgent questions that consider the ways in which people negotiate space and place. Through a range of media—such as painting, video, installation and performative talks—she excavates historiography to shift the interactions between knowledge and power in historic and imperial contexts to a poetic body of work.

Behbahani is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award for an anticipated project Ispahan Flowers Only Once, a community garden inspired by Persian garden design, philosophy, plants and flora, which will bring people together to take part and re-activate the unseen histories by gathering and gardening.

Born in Tehran, Iran, into an artistic family of writers, painters, musicians and puppeteers, Behbahani relocated to the US and currently works in Brooklyn, NY.


Education


1998
  • Master of Fine Arts in Painting, Azad University of Art, Tehran, Iran
1995
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran




Selected Solo Exhibitions


2022
  • Water binds me to your name, Trotter & Sholer, curated by Klaudia Ofwona Draber, New York, NY
  • Immigrant Flora: Rising Under, site-specific mural, The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at, Ursinus College, PA
2019
  • All water has a perfect memory., commissioned for Wave Hill Garden, Bronx, NY
2017
  • Let the Garden Eram Flourish, curated by Smooth Ugochukwu Nzewi, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
2016
  • Garden Coup, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY
2015
  • The Garden of Heart's Delight, Etemad Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2013
  • Hidden Camera, Causey Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY
2011
  • The Chronicle of Her Innocence, NYU AD, New York, NY




Selected Group Exhibitions and Biennales


2024
  • Rivers Flow / Artists Connect, curated by Jennifer McGregor and Laura Vookles, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY
2023
  • Beyond the Last Horizon, curated by Charlotte Bank and Salah Saouli, Art-Lab Berlin, Germany
  • Within Others, curated by Candace Huey, Edge on the Square, San Francisco, CA
  • Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present, conceived by the late Okwui Enwezor and curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Sharjah, UAE
2022
  • Infinite Reminders, curated by Srinivas Aditya Mopidevi, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
  • Mother River, online video series, Asia Society Museum, NY
2020
  • between the sun and the moon, curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, 2nd Lahore Biennale, Lahore, Pakistan
2019
  • Otherwise Obscured: Erasure in Body and Text, curated by Danilo Machado, Franklin Street Works Gallery, Stamford, CT
  • Trajectory: FiveMyles, curated by Charlotta Kotik with William Corwin, FiveMyles, Brooklyn, NY
  • What's Love Got To Do With It?, from Open Sessions 2018–2020, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
  • Figuring The Floral, curated by Eileen Jeng Lynch, Glyndor Gallery, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY
  • Point of Departure: Open Sessions 15, organized by curators Rosario Güiraldes and Lisa Sigal, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
  • Short Shadows: Bahar Behbahani and John Wang, curated by Vic Brooks, EMPAC-Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer, Troy, NY
  • New Works, Arts Projects International, New York, NY
  • Civic Women: Community Visions, co-curated by Lydia Matthews and Barbara Benish, Art Dialogue at the KINO, Horaždovice, Czech Republic
2018
  • (Up)rooted: A Study On Immigrant Flora (with Shamsy Behbahani), The Shed Space, Brooklyn, NY
  • re:home, a For Freedoms exhibition, curated by Amy Kisch, Candace Huey, Suzanne Zuber, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
  • Active Forms: Works from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, Sharjah, UAE
  • Panorama Punjab, curated by Sarah Singh, Punjab, India
2017
  • In Between (Part II): So Far, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
  • Clouds⇄Forests, by Yuko Hasegawa, 7th Moscow International Biennale of Contemporary Art
2016
  • Why Not Ask Again, curated by Raqs Media Collective, 11th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China
  • The 50 West Artist in Construction Residency Exhibition, Time Equities Inc.'s Art-in-Buildings, New York, NY
  • Fireflies In The Night, video art screenings, curated by Barbara London, Robert Storr, Kalliopi Minioudaki, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens, Greece
  • MARKING 2: Drawings by Contemporary Artists from Asia, Art Projects International, New York, NY
2014
  • Vision of Three, Boom Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • Chain of Fire, curated by Dr. Kóan Jeff Baysa and Isabella Ellaheh Hughes, The Prologue Exhibition for the 2016 Honolulu Biennial, Honolulu, HI
  • Shortenin' Bread, A participatory installation in collaboration with Torkwase Dyson and Eyebeam, Governors Island, NY
  • Women: Experimental Films, The Shed Space, Brooklyn, NY
2013
  • Dangerous Beauty, Graffit Gallery, Varna, Bulgaria
  • Looks Like Torture, curated by Nicholas Cohn Art Projects and Amy Kisch, HERE Arts Center, New York, NY
  • The Time in Children's Arts Initiative, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
  • Six Women, curated buy Margrethe Aanestad and Eric Heist, Prosjektrom Normanns, Stavanger, Norway
2012
  • all our relations, curated by Catherine de Zegher and Gerald McMaster, 18th Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
  • Part of Me: mise en abyme, curated by Amirali Ghasemi and Sandra Skurvida, Cité International des Arts, Paris, France
  • Aftermath, curated by Basak Senova, Akbank Art Center, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Video 2012, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
2011
  • TVDinner, curated by Sandra Skurvida with Amirali Ghasemi, a project for Immigrant Movement International by Tania Bruguera, Queens Museum and Creative Time, New York NY
  • Iran Via Video Current, curated by Amirali Ghasemi and Sandra Skurvida, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY
  • She Devil 5, presented by Studio Stefania Miscetti, MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
  • Sharjah Biennial 10: Plot for a Biennial, curated by Suzanne Cotter, Rasha Salti, and Haig Aivazian, Sharjah, UAE
2010
  • Time After Time, curated by Taraneh Hemami, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
  • SanctionedArray, Whitebox, New York, NY
  • Exhaustion - The Jerusalem Show IV, Al Ma'mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Jerusalem
  • Handheld History, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY
  • Open End, Witzenhausen Gallery, New York, NY
  • The Stalking of Absence, curated by Shaheen Merali, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
  • Openly, International Women Artists Video Exhibition, curated by Sabina Shikhlinskaya, Antrepo5, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Silverstein Photography Annual, curated by Carrie Springer, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY
  • Tehran-New York, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2009
  • Masques of Shahrazad, Candlestar Gallery, London, England
  • Women Forward, curated by Yuko Nii, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
  • 2008
    • Tribeca Film Festival (Official Selection: Suspended), New York, NY
    2007
    • 13th Annual International Exhibition of Women's Art, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY
    2006
    • Experimental Media Series, co-curated by Kathryn Cornelius and Djakarta, WPA, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
    2004
    • The 6th Painting Biennial, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran
    2003
    • ABIM Collective, Mimara Museum, Zagreb, Croatia
    2002
    • Second Biennial of Contemporary Painting of the Islamic World, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran
    • Dena-12 Contemporary Iranian Women Artists: Palazzo Reale di Napoli, Naples, Italy; Fabian Gallery, Marbella, Spain; Vigado Gallery, Budapest, Hungary; Palaise des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland; Villa Del Cardinale, Naples, Italy
    • 10th Asian Art Biennial, Dhaka, Bangladesh
    • Iranian Contemporary, Christie's, London, England
    2000
    • Art in the World 2000, organized by Beaux Art Magazine, Paris, France




    Grants and Awards


    2022
    • Sandra Kahn Alpert Visiting Artist Fellowship, Syracuse University, School of Art, NY
    2020
    • Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant
    2019
    • Creative Capital Award 2019, New York, NY
    • Artist in Residence, EMPAC-Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at Rensselaer, Troy, NY
    2018
    • Open Sessions 2018-2020, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
    • The Brown Foundation Fellows Program, based at the Dora Maar House in Ménerbes, France
    2017
    • MacDowell Residency, Peterborough, NH
    2016
    • Akrai Residency, Sicily, Italy
    2015
    • Time Equities' Art-in-Buildings Residency, New York, NY
    2014
    • Miranda Arts Project Space Residency, Port Chester, NY
    2013
    • Casa dell'Arte International Art Residency Programme, Bodrum, Turkey
    • Art Omi International Artists Residency, Ghent, NY (Made possible by The Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant)
    2011
    • Art and Culture Network Program Grant, Open Society Fundations, Budapest
    2010
    • Eyebeam, Finalist, New York, NY
    • BRIC Media Fellowship, Brooklyn, NY
    2007
    • Selected ‘Best in Show’ by Carrie Springer, Senior Curatorial Assistant, Whitney Museum of American Art - 13th Annual International Exhibition of Women's Art, SOHO20 Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY




    Selected Teaching and Pedagogical Lectures


    2000-2024
    • Adjunct Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, New York, NY
    2024
    • Guest Artist, Low-Residency MFA Visual Studies, Willamette University, Portland, OR
    • Adjunct Professor, Queens College School of Arts, CUNY, New York, NY
    2023
    • Visiting Artist, Department of Art and Art History, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY
    • Panel: AAPI Artists, Culture Lab, Long Island City, Queens, NY
    • Adjunct Professor, Queens College School of Arts, CUNY, New York, NY
    2022
    • The Atelier Course, Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY
    • Liquid Borders - a panel discussion on art and environmental justice with Bahar Behbahani, David Brooks, and Jennifer McGregor
    • The Impact of Public Art on the Urban Landscape, a panel discussion with artists Rico Gatson & Bahar Behbahani and MTA director of Art & Design Sandra Bloodworth, moderated by Lolita Cros, Bronx, NY
    • Dialogues in the Diaspora: Bahar Behbahani and Farsad Labbauf, Asia Society Museum, NY
    • The Sandra Kahn Alpert Visiting Artist Fellowship, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
    • Visiting Artist Lecture Series, Department of Art - Studio Art, Queens College, CUNY, NY
    • NAEA National Convention, National Art Education Association, New York, NY
    • Water in a Shared World: Artist Perspectives (practice or action), in collaboration with Asia Society and the NYU Brademas Center
    • Lecture Series, Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY
    • Artist in Residence at The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA
    • NYC Crit Club, Guest Speaker, New York, NY
    2021
    • WAVE: Workshops on Activism and Visuality in Europe, in collaboration with visual critic Nicholas Mirzoeff and political sociologists, philosophers, activists, and artists
    2020
    • Visiting Artist, Smith College Department of Art, Northampton, MA
    • Meet at The Shed: Agnes Denes: Absolutes and Intermediates with Artist Bahar Behbahani; The Shed, New York, NY
    2019
    • Workshop with Wave Hill’s Woodland Ecology Research Mentorship (WERM), Bronx, NY
    • Artist Lecture, Smith College Department of Art, Northampton, MA
    • Workshop with Wave Hill’s Art, Community and Environmental Stewards (ACES), Bronx, NY
    • Visiting Critics, MASSART, Studio for Interrelated Media, Boston, MA
    • Artist Lecture, Department of Art and Art History, University at Albany / SUNY, NY
    • Workshop with CUNY Corps and Bloomberg interns work at the garden’s weekly Family Art Project, Bronx, NY
    2018
    • A Scholars' Day on The Wagner Garden Carpet from the Burrell Collection, Scotland; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
    • Visiting Critics, MASSART, Studio for Interrelated Media, Boston, MA
    • Visiting Artist Lecture Series, School of Art and Design, Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY
    • Visiting Critics, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
    2017
    • Student Workshop, The Well School, Peterborough, NH
    • Student Workshop, ConVal Regional High School, Peterborough, NH
    2016
    • Conversations and Connections: An Afternoon with Artist Bahar Behbahani, Hood Museum of Art; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
    • Garden Coup, Conversation with Shiva Balaghi, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, NY
    • Women Artists Panel, St. John's University, Queens, NY
    • Guest Artist, Spence School, New York, NY
    2015
    • Visiting Critic, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY
    • Saffron Tea, Screening and Q&A, East Bay Media Center, Berkeley, CA
    • Visiting Curators and Critics, Graduate Student Studio Visits, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
    2014
    • Watchers Watching, talk and screening, moderated by Karol Szafraniec at Galeria Sztuki Współczesnej, BWA Sokół, Nowy Sącz, Poland
    • The Arts in New York City, Macaulay Honors College Seminar, Baruch College, New York, NY
    • Panel Discussion, Portraits: Reflections by Emerging Iranian Artists, New York, NY
    • Critical Dialogues: Bahar Behbahani, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
    2013
    • Political Photography: Satires, Cartoons, Statements-Staged Photography and Digital Collages, Left Forum 2013, Pace University, New York, NY
    • The Short Films of Bahar Behbahani, film and lecture series, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI
    2012
    • Video 2012, Momenta Art, Brooklyn, NY
    2011
    • Visiting Artist, Video Art, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY
    • The Chronicle of Her Innocence, conversation with Sam Bardaouil, NYU Abu Dhabi, New York, NY
    2010
    • Leila Cancelled Due to Bad Weather, March Meeting, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
    2009
    • Art in Exile Round Table, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
    2003
    • Persian Art from Past to Present, University of Texas, Dallas, TX




    Selected Publications and Press


    2022
    • Aliza Edelman, “Suspended: Bahar Behbahani’s Displacement and Longing in the PersianGarden,” in Transnational Belonging and Female Agency in the Arts, ed. Basia Sliwinska and Catherine Dormor (Bloomsbury Academic, 2022)
    • "Home Studios", interviews conducted by Klaudia Ofwona Draber, published by Koda Lab and Brooklyn Arts Council
    2021
    • Wendy S. Walters, "Art Matters Now — 12 Writers on 20 Years of Art: Wendy S. Walters on Catastrophe, 2020, and the Work of Alan Ruiz and Bahar Behbahani," Los Angeles Review of Books
    2020
    • Shailaja Tripathi, “Artist Bahar Behbahani uses landscapes as a metaphor for politics and poetics,” Stirworld
    • Nadia Kurd, “Lahore Biennale 02: between the sun and the moon,” Journal of Curatorial Studies – Volume 9 Number 2, University of Alberta Museums
    • Klaudia Ofwona Draber, “Culture and Climate in the Work of Artist Bahar Behbahani.” J'aipur Journal
    • Yuko Hasegawa, “A New Ecology and Art,” GA Journal vol.1, Graduate School of Global Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts
    2019
    • Lilly Wei, “Like a River Flows,” in All water has a perfect memory, Wave Hill Garden (brochure, Wave Hill Garden)
    2017
    • Dr. Shiva Balaghi “Surrounded by Quiet Nothingness: On Bahar Behbahani’s Paintings,” in Let the Garden Eram Flourish, Hood Museum of Art, (brochure, Dartmouth College
    • Ugochugwu-Smooth C. Nzewi Ph. D., “History as a Context of Artistic Practice,” in Let the Garden Eram Flourish, Hood Museum of Art, (brochure, Dartmouth College)




    Public Collections


    • Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ, USA
    • Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
    • Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
    • Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia
    • NYU Langone Art Program and Collection, New York, NY, USA
    • Columbia Hospital, New York, NY, USA
    • The Visual Arts Museum of Pasargad Bank, Tehran, Iran


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