Mitra Tabrizian

Born in Tehran, Iran
Lives and works in London

Mitra Tabrizian has exhibited and published widely and in major international museums and galleries, including her solo exhibition at the Tate Britain in 2008. Her most recent books Another Country, withtexts by Homi Bhabha, David Green, and Hamid Naficy, is publishedby Hatje Cantz in 2012.

Her photographic and film works are represented in major public collections, including, Victoria and Albert Museum, London | Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art | Moderna Mussset, Stockholm | Museum Folkwang, Essen | Musée d’Art Moderne, Luxembourg amongst others. She has received several photographic and film awards, including AHRB (Arts and Humanities Research Board) Innovation Awards for the film ‘The Predator’ (28 - minute film, 35 mm print, 2004).

Selected Exhibitions:

2013. Safar/ Voyagen, MOA, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver. April- Sept. USA
2012. Solo show, The Wapping Project Bankside, London, UK (21 Sept.- 2 Nov.)
2012. Solo show, Leila Heller Galery, N.Y., USA (June- July)
2012. Iranian Pulse, SESC, Sâo Paulo, Brazil (Jan.- March)
2012. Light from Middle East, Victoria and Albert Museum (Nov.)
2011. Solo show, Project B, Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy (Feb.-April)
2011. Regarding Iran: Acquiescence and Conceptual Poetics, Guild Gallery, Mumbai, India(March-April)
2011. Zendegi, Beirut Exhibition Centre, Libanon (April-May)
2011. Tension, Hezy Cohen gallery (June- July)
2010. Twenty-First Century, National Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland, Australia (Dec-April 2011)
2010. Play list Jönköpings läns museum, Sweden (sept-jan. 2011)
2010. International Festival of photography, Fotojatka, Prague, Czech Republic, traveling to Budweis, Brno and other cities (April- July)
2010. In and out Project B, Contemporary Art , Milan, Italy (Feb-April)
2009. Solo show, Albion gallery, London, UK (Jan- Feb.)
2009. Theatre of the Real, Fotomuseum, Antwerp, Belgium (June-Sept.)
2009. Translation/Tarjama, Queens Museum of Art, N.Y., USA (May-Sept.)
2009. The End: Analyzing Art in Troubled Times, Andy Warhol Museum N.Y., USA(Feb-may)
2009. L'Iran Sans Frontiere, Almine Rech gallery, Paris, France (June)
2009. Iran, inside Out, Chelsea Art Museum, N.y. (June-Sept.) traveling to DePaul University Museum, Chicago, USA
2008. Solo show, Tate Britain, London, UK (June- August)
2008. Solo show, Caprice Horn Gallery, Berlin, Germany (June- Sept.)
2008. Street and Studio: An Urban History of Photography, Tate Modern, London, UK (May-August) traveling to Museum of Folkwang (Oct 08-Jan 09) Sotheby's, London (Oct.)
2007. C International Photo, Phillips de Pury, N.Y., USA (Sept.)
2007. Wall house project (on the work of an American architect John Hejduk)
2007. Noorderlicht gallery, Holland and Wall House Foundation (June)
2007. FotoArtFestival, Poland (Oct.)
2006. Solo show, Moderna Mussset (Museum of Modern art) Stockholm, Sweden
2006. 10th Venice Biennale of architecture, Italian Pavilion Giardini di Castello, Italy
2006. Voodoo Macbeth: a tribute to the work of Orson Welles, De la Warr Pavilion, Contemporary Iranian photography, The House of Artists, Tehran Iran
2005. Safe: an exhibition of contemporary art, Karlskrona Art Gallery & Blekinge Museum, Sweden (catalogue - poster)
2005. In the Shadow of Fallen Heroes, Central Asian Biennale in Kyrgyzstan (catalogue)
2004. Solo Show, BBK, Bilbao, Spain - (catalogue)
2004. Solo show, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
2004. Far Near Distance - New Positions of Contemporary Iranian Artists, the House of World Cultures Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
2004. Veil, The Kulturhuset, Stockholm, Sweden (catalogue )
2004. Lumo 04 triennal of Contemporary Photography, Jyvaskyla Art Museum, Finland (catalogue-poster-T shirt)
2003. Solo show, Museum of Folkwang, Germany (catalogue)
2003. Aletheia: The Real of concealment, Art Museum, Goteborg, Sweden (catalogue -poster)
2003. Veil, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, Uk (touring in UK)
2001. Inhabiting, Gallery Lelong , N.Y. USA
1999. London: Post-Colonial City, Architectural Association, London,UK
1998. Minimal Utopia (Solo show), Camera Austria Gallery, Graz, Austria (poster)
1996. Gender- Beyond Memory, Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japan (catalogue)
1996. Family, Nation, Tribe, Community Shift, House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
1995. The Outburst of Signs: Art at the Interfaces of Gender & Race, Kunstlerwerkstatt Lothringerstrabe, Munich, Germany (catalogue)
1994. Le Shuttle, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
1994. Public Domain, Art Centre Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain (catalogue)
1994. Solo show, Hippolyte Gallery, Helsinki, Finland (touring in Finland)
1994. Solo show, Gallery Index: Centre of Photography, Stockholm, Sweden (touring in Sweden)
1993. Mistaken Identities (catalogue): University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
1993. Museum of Folklwang, Essen, Germany
1993. Forum Stadtpark, Graz, Austria
1993. Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany
1993. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark
1992. History Present, Museum of Folkwang, Essen, Germany
1992. Fine Material for a Dream....? A Reappraisal of Orientalism: 19th & 20th Century Fine Art & Popular Culture, Harris Museum, Preston (touring in UK - catalogue)
1991. Shocks to the System: Social && Political Issues in Recent British Art Royal Festival Hall, London (touring in UK - catalogue)
1991. Public Images, Forum Stadtpark, graz, Austria
1990. Spectacular Women', Film in the Cities, Saint Paul, USA
1990. Contemporary Social Documentary, Fotobienal, 'Art History Centre', Vigo, Spain (touring in Spain - catalogue)
1989. Mysterious Coincidences (catalogue): The Photographers' Gallery, London, UK
1989. Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
1989. Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania
1989. National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
1989. Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand
1989. Through the Looking Glass: Photographic Art in Britain, 1945- 89
1989. Barbican Art Gallery, London (touring in UK - catalogue)
1989. The Boundaries of Photography', Alvar Aalto Museum, Finland (catalogue)
1989. Some Notions on Marginality, Grey Art Gallery, NYU Study Centre, New York, USA
1988. The Other Body, Photographic Resource Centre, Boston,USA (catalogue)
1988. Billboards: New Castle, Derry, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield - Canada
1988. International Photography, Metronom, Barcelona, Spain (catalogue)
1988. Towards the Photograph as a Vulgar Document, Optica Gallery, Montreal, Canada (catalogue)
1988. Sexual Difference Both Sides of the Camera, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia
1987. Solo show, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford (travelling in UK - catalogue)
1987. The Body Politic, The Photographers' Gallery, London (touring in Europe & USA catalogue)
1986. Solo show, Chateau d'Eau Gallery, Toulouse, France (touring in Europe)
1986. International Photography, Arles International Gallery, Arles (catalogue)
1986. Magnificent Obsession - ARC Gallery, Toronto (touring in Canada - catalogue)
1986. Solo show, Screen Memories, Perspectief, Rotterdam, Holland (catalogue)
1986. Impostors, Interim Art Gallery, London, UK (catalogue)
1986. Towards a Bigger Picture, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK (catalogue)
1986. Solo show, Gallery 400, Chicago, USA (touring in USA & Europe)
1986. European Women Photographers Today, Torino otografia, Torino, Italy (catalogue)
1986. Beyond the Purloined Image, The Riverside, London, UK
1986. The Way We Live Now: Beyond Social Documentary, PS1 Gallery, New York, USA
1986. Five Photographers; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (touring in Europe - catalogue)

Films:

2004. Writer & Director of 'The Predator', AHRB Innovation Awards (Arts & Humanities Research Board), 35 mm, 28 mins
1993. Writer & Director of 'Journey of No Return', BFI, (British Film Institute) 16mm, 23 mins
1990. Writer & Director of 'The Third Woman', BFI, 16 mm, 20 mins

Film Festivals:

2005-09. The Predator: Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, France (Feb05) Film Society, LA, USA (June 05) | Exile Film Festival, Sweden (October 05) | Cinema East Film Festival, N.Y. (Nov. 05) | Tiburon International Film Festival, USA (March 06) | Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival (Jan 06) | Malta International Short Film Festival (July 06)

Other venues:

2005. Far from a deceitful world, Saarijärvi Musuem, Finland (June)
2006. Istanbul photo Biennale, Turkey (Oct.)
2006. Moderna Mussset (Museum of Modern art) Stockholm, Sweden (Nov.)
2007. The Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (March)
2007. International Photography Festival (ULIS photo FEST), Istanbul, Turkey (May)
2008. Tate Britain, (June)
2008. Iran: New Voices, Barbican Cinema (Dec.)
2009. Queens Museum of Art, N.Y. (May-Sept.)
2009. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, N.Y. (Oct.)
1996-93. Journey of No Return distributed by BFI
1996-93. Toronto International Film Festival, Canada
1996-93. Turin International Film Festival, Italy
1996-93. Birmingham International Film & Television Festival, UK.
1996-93. Berlin International Film Festival, Germany
1996-93. The World is My Home, The International Exile Film Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
1996-93. Festival of Iranian Cineaste in Diaspora (FICD), touring: Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto
1996-93. Women in Hollywood's Chair, Chicago, USA
1994-1990. The Third Woman distributed by BFI
1994-1990. Creteil International Women's Film Festival, France.
1994-1990. Chicago International Film Festival, USA.
1994-1990. BP Expo, London, UK.
1994-1990. Norwich Women's Film Festival, UK.
1994-1990. Melbourne Film Festival Australia, (selected for Kino awards).
1994-1990. Birmingham International Film & Television Festival, UK.
1994-1990. Foyle Film festival, Ireland
1994-1990. Leeds International Film Festival
1994-1990. The World is My Home, The International Exile Film Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
1994-1990. Festival of Iranian Cineaste in Diaspora (FICD), touring: Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto
1999-1993. The Third Woman & Journey of no Return have been shown & discussed at: Uk venues: Metro Cinema, BFI Summer Shorts, Thames Valley University, MA in Cultural Studies Leeds University | Hall Place Studios, World University Services | London School of Economics, London University, School of Oriental & African studies | Sheffield University, Luton University
1999-1993. Women & Islam, Institute of Contemporary Arts
1999-1993. New British Cinema, Institute of Contemporary Arts

International venues:

2012-2008. University Art Museum, Berkeley, USA
2012-2008. Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden
2012-2008. Museum of Modern Art, Helsinki, Finland
2012-2008. Kunstlerhaus Bethanien (Institute of Contemporary Arts), Berlin, Germany
2012-2008. The House of World Cultures, Berlin, Germany
2012-2008. International Conference of Photography, Graz, Austria
2012-2008. Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography', Japan
2012-2008. ...east of here..: (re)imagining the 'orient', YYZ (gallery) , Toronto, Canada
2012-2008. 'reinventing britain', Institute of Contemporary Arts, Boston, USA
2012-2008. Museum of Folkwang, Essen, Germany

Selected Publications:

Monographs:

2008. This is That Place, (with an introduction by TJ Demos) Tate Catalogue
2004. Beyond the limits the Limits (with an introduction by Stuart Hall), Steidl
1990. Correct Distance (with an introduction by Griselda Pollock) Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK.

Articles & Photo-Essays:

2008. Tehran 2006 in 'C International Photo Art Magazine', Issue no 7
2008. Border (on Iranians in exile), in Iranian Photography Now, Rose Issa (ed), Hatje Cantz Verlag
2008. Naked City, in Horizons, Elena Foster and Antonio Sanz (eds) Ivory Press (Nov.)
2007. Border (on Iranians in exile) newformations, N 62, Interviewed by Hamid Naficy in An Accented Cinema: Exile and Diasporic Film making, Hamid Naficy, Princeton U Press
2002-2000. 'Beyond the Limits' in the following books & journals: Different: a historical context Stuart Hall & Mark Sealy (eds) , Phaidon Press
2002-2000. Futures: the journal of policy, planning & futures studies' Ziauddin Sardar (ed)
2001. Art, German magazine, N11
1999. Minimal Utopia (photo essay) in the following books & journals: Formation of Present (translation), Hubertus Von Amelunxen & Antje, Krause-Wahl (eds), Muthesius Hochschule
1999. The Third Text, Rasheed Araeen (ed), Routlege, London, UK
1999. Photographers International, Juan I-Jong (ed), Taiwan
1999. Camera Austria, N 62 / 63
1998. The Blues in 'Det Finns Granser' ('There Exist Borders': translation from Swedish),Wiwi Samuelsson
1998-95. Surveillance (photo essay) in the following journals & books: The Politics Behind the Nude '(translation), a book by Michiko Kasahara
1998-95. Liberating Art History (translation), Hiroko Hagiwar (Ed), Jijitsushn - sha, Tokyo - The paper was initially published in New Formations, N 6 - 1990 & reprinted in Camera Austria, N 49
1992. The Black As Such: Race & Representation, Camera Austria, N 40 -reprinted in 'Public Domain' (translation), Jorge Ribalta (Ed) Departament de Cultura,Barcelona, 1994-1988. The Blues, New Formations, N 6
1985. 'Correct Distance: On the Femme Fatale, Block, N 10
1985. 'Governmentality: On the Discourse of Advertising', Screen
1985. College of Fashion' (photo-essay), Screen Education, N 4

Photographic work in (1985- 2006):

International Journals:

Books:

2010. A Guide to Collecting Contemporary Photography, Jocelyn Phillips, Sotheby's
2010. Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab world and Iran
2010. Saeb Eigner, Merrell Publishers
2009. Different, Sames: new perspective in contemporary Iranian art, ed Hossein Amirsadeghi, Trans Globe Publishing Ltd 2009
2008. Iranian Photography Now, ed Rose Issa, Hatje Cantz
2005. book cover for Saubere Verhältnisse a novel by the Swedish author Marie Hermanson published by Suhrkamp Verlag
2000. Art & Feminism, Helena Reckitt (ed), Phaidon Press (Oct.) This book is part of a series entitled '20th Century Source Books'(2000)
2000. Terra Infirma - Geography's Visual Culture, Irit Rogoff, Routledge
1999. The Image & Visual Culture, Jessica Evans (ed), Open University
1998. The Art of Interruption: Realism, Photography & the Everyday, John Roberts , MUP
1987. Visual and Other Pleasures, Laura Mulvey, Macmillan
1987. 'Post-Modernism & the Question of Identity', ICA Documents, N 6
1988. Vision and Difference, Griselda Pollock, Routledge

Collections:

Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Australia
Musée d'Art Moderne (Museum of Modern Art), Luxembourg
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Moderna Mussset (Museum of Modern art) Stockholm, Sweden
Museum of Folkwang, Essen, Germany
Zoroastrian Cultural Centre, Paris, France
Sparkasse Essen, Germany
Stichting Fotografie Noorderlicht, Netherlands
The Arts Council of Great Britain
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford, UK
The Moravian Gallery, Czechoslovak
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA
Alvar Aalto Museum, Finland
And various major private collections

Awards:

2005. Arts & Humanities Research Center (AHRC) Research Leave Grant
2005. The Arts Council, UK
2004. Arts & Humanities Research Center (AHRC) Grants in the Creative & Performing Arts
2004. The Arts Council, UK
2003. Arts & Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Innovation Awards
1996. London Arts Board
1993. British Film Institute
1993. Greater London Arts (GLA), film award British Film Institute
1993. Photographers' Gallery Trust Fund
1987. Metro Billboard Project, Newcastle, UK
1987. Greater London Arts, Photography award
1985. National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, photography award UK
1985. Greater London Arts, photography award
1985. Arts Council photography award, UK

Talks and Workshops:

Conference Papers:

2009. symposium, 'staging, Manipulation and Photographic Truth', Westminster University (April )
2006. 2006 'Global Photography Now: The Middle East', Tate Modern (May)
2006. Istanbul photo Biennale, turkey (Oct.)
2005. '90s Photography in Britain', Tate Britain, (May)
2004. 'Digital Photography', Folkwang museum, Essen, Germany (Oct.)
2004. 'Tehran's 9th Photo Biennale', Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran (July.)
2000. Chairing conversation between Stuart Hall & Homi Bhabha, University of Westminster
1998. Muthesius Hochschule Forum, paper, Minimal Utopia, Keil, Germany
1997. 'Symposium on Photography XVII: Agents & Agencies: Photography between Discourse & Document', paper, Minimal Utopia, Graz, Austria
1994. 'British Art', discussing the film 'Journey of No Return' (BFI) Deutscher
1994. Akademischer Austauschdienst, Berlin, Germany 'Post-Feminism & Art', Paper 'The Feminine Gaze', University of Stockholm, Sweden
1993. 'History as Repetition, The Repetition of History - What is New?' (History, identity, Race, Nation), discussing the photographic work, 'The Blues', Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.
1993. 'Haltbar, International Conference of Photography', paper; 'On the Notion of Critical Practice', Dortmond, Germany
1993. 'Feminist Art & Histories Network', paper 'On the Notion of Critical Practice', Leeds University, UK
1992. 'Identities: Strategies of Representations', Paper 'The Black As Such: Race & Representation' University of Santa Barbara, USA.
1991. 'Public Images', paper, 'The Black As Such: Race & Representation' 'Camera Austria, Graz, Austria.
1990. 'Displacements: Migration and Identity', paper,'Surveillance: Islam, Identity and the West', University of California, Santa Cruz,USA
1989. 'Foto Biennale: International Conference of Photography', paper, 'On ) Postmodernism', Enschede,Holland.
1988. 'Feminism & Art', paper 'Post - Feminism and the Third World Woman' New Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
1987. 'The Other Body: Cultural Debates in Contemporary British Photography', paper 'Distance: On the femme fatale', Boston University, Boston, USA
1987. 'Photography, Phantasy, Politics', 'Correct Distance: On the femme fatale' Leeds University, UK.
1987. 'International Conference of Photography', paper, 'Racism and Representation', Toronto, Canada
1986. 'Women's Photography Conference', paper,'Not Images of Women, But Woman as Image', Battersea Arts Centre, London.
1985. 'Photography & Critical Theory', paper 'Not Images of Women, But Woman as Image', Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, UK.