Soheila Sokhanvari

Soheila Sokhanvari is an Iranian-born, UK-based multimedia artist. Her practice – which includes portraiture, taxidermy and working with found objects such as expired passports - explores her home country’s tumultuous political history, and the influence of Western culture in the Middle East.  

Soheila is particularly known for her impactful egg tempera portraits of significant female creatives from pre-revolutionary Iran, and beyond. Characterised by the use of vibrant colour and graphic pattern, these works are steeped in symbolism and narrative, with undertones of dark humour. Often informed by photographs or memories, Soheila’s subjects have included Iranian performers Pouran Shapoori and Shoorangiz Tabatabaee. The artist has recently started woodblock printing; her newest work celebrates Iranian feminist writer and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad (1934 – 1967).

Soheila moved to the UK in 1978 and graduated with a degree in biochemistry in 1986. She worked as a cytogeneticist for 18 years before pursuing her dream of becoming an artist by studying at Anglia Ruskin University and Chelsea College of Art, graduating with an MFA from Goldsmiths College in 2011. She has since exhibited widely with solo exhibitions at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, (2015 and 2019) and The Curve Gallery, Barbican Centre, London (2022). Group exhibitions include ‘Contemporary Collecting: David Hockney to Cornelia Parker’ at the British Museum (2024). Soheila’s works can be seen at Tate Britain until 2027, and at the National Portrait Gallery until Aug 2026. Her work is held in notable private and public collections including the Government Art Collection, UK, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, USA, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia and the Dangxia Foundation, China. She lives and works in Cambridge.

We are proud to present work by Soheila in our upcoming group exhibition And Other Animals.

Portrait of the artist by Tomos Davies