Visual artist & photographer
Mahsa Alikhani
Toronto, Canada · Born in Tehran, 1981
Biography
Mahsa Alikhani (b. 1981, Tehran) is an Iranian-Canadian visual artist based in Toronto. With a background in architecture and photography, her practice spans staged photography, installation and mixed media.
Her work explores identity, displacement and memory, and the social and political forces that shape our lives. She builds and paints the objects and settings for her photographs, bringing symbolic details and theatrical scenes into carefully constructed images. Her work moves between reality and imagination, drawing on personal experience and wider cultural histories.
Her work has been exhibited in Canada, Iran, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Korea and the United States.
Curriculum vitae
Exhibitions & experience
Solo Exhibitions
- 2023Quietude and Revolution, La Masha Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2020Dream's Ashes, Botte Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2016Kate Moss Family, Ax Gallery, Berlin, Germany
- 2015Two Seconds Before Occurrence, Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 2013Kate Moss Family, Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2026The Final Battle, Sahar K. Boluki Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2024Merging Boundaries, Zaal Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2023Women, Life, Freedom, Beyond Words Gallery, Amherst College, Massachusetts, USA
- 2023Anonymously, Iran, Culture Lab LIC at the Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, New York, USA
- 2022Gender & The Lens III, Gales Gallery, York University, Toronto, Canada
- 2022The First Fertile, A Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 2019Focus Iran 3, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles, California, USA
- 2019Memory Space Time, Mellat Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 2018Group Exhibition, Palazzo Bastogi Museum, Florence, Italy
- 2018Homa Summer Collection Exhibition, Tehran, Iran
- 2017Group Exhibition, Al-Tiba Galeria Arteria Bcn, Barcelona, Spain
- 2016Full Color, Iranian Contemporary Visual Artist Exhibition, Iranian Artist Forum, Tehran, Iran
- 2016A Glance at the Iranian Contemporary Photography, Mellat Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 2014Joy land, Mehrva Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 2014Art for Peace, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 2013Group Exhibition, 4th edition of Persbook, Iranian Artist Forum, Tehran, Iran
Grants, Awards & Recognition
- 2024Skills and Career Development
- 2023Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship
- 2023Individual – Visual Artists: Creation
- 2022RBC Emerging Artist Network, The Power Plant Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada
- 2015Bursary and Travel Grant, Cultural Division of the Embassy of France, Tehran, Iran
Biennials & Art Fairs
- 2023Photo London Fair, London, United Kingdom
- 20179th Fadjr International Festival of Visual Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran
- 2016Daegu Photo Biennale, South Korea
Artist Talks & Presentations
- 2023Artist Lecture, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
- 2020Artist Talk, Botte Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- 2018Artist Talk, Arman College
- 2016Artist Talk, National Iranian Photographers' Society, Iranian Artist Forum, Tehran, Iran
Selected Press & Publications
- 2021Photography Magazine, “History of Stage Photography in Iran,” Tehran, Iran
- 2021Mehrnews Review, Tehran, Iran
- 2020blogTO
- 2020Honaronline, report on the solo exhibition Dream's Ashes
- 2019Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, USA
- 2019Art Daily, “Contemporary Photography and Video”
- 2018Akkasee Magazine, Iran
- 2018Financial Tribune, “Works of 20 Artists in Florence Museum,” July 30, 2018
- 2018Beverly Hills Courier
- 2018NordArt, International Art Exhibition catalogue, Germany
- 2016Daegu Photo Biennale, We Are from Somewhere, but Where Are We Going?, South Korea
Gallery Representation
- 2022–PresentAl-Tiba Galeria Arteria Bcn, Barcelona, Spain
- 2013–2019Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran