About the work

In her Iranian crude oil on paper drawings, faced with political events and traumas of contemporary Iranian politics that are impossible to represent, Sokhanvari plays with meaning and materiality by allowing the medium to carry the political message. Crude oil as the most precious commodity of modern times implicates us all and addresses our relationship to this material be it economic, political, ecological and social. By employing crude oil, a non-art material, these drawings tell the narrative of the collective narrative through the story of the individual in relation to the mass consumer society and energy-hungry world. Where oil rich countries negotiate and battle for democracy and liberty but at a human cost.

Date and country of birth

1964, IR

Career Highlights

Exhibitions include:

Rebel, Rebel, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Denmark (2024);

The Time of our Lives, Drawing Room, UK (2024);

We Could Be Heroes..., Heong Gallery, UK (2024);

The Origin of the Horse, Kunsthal Rønnebæksholm, Denmark (2024);

A Spirit Inside, The Lightbox, UK (2023);

Role Models, Pallant House Gallery, UK (2023);

Rebel, Rebel, The Barbican, UK (2022).

Collections: Government Art Collection (UK), LACMA (USA), Newark Museum of Art (USA); National Gallery of Victoria (Australia), The New Art Gallery Walsall (UK), Bunker Artspace Museum (USA); Fitzwilliam Museum (UK); The Women’s Art Collection (UK); Bagri Foundation, London (UK); Pallant House Gallery (UK).