Hoda Afshar was born in Tehran, Iran (1983), and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. She completed a Bachelor degree in Fine Art– Photography in Tehran, and her PhD thesis in Creative Arts at Curtin University.
Hoda Afshar
At the intersection of conceptual, staged and documentary image-making, Hoda Afshar’s artistic practice explores the representation of gender, marginality and displacement. Initially drawn to the potential of the documentary image to unearth hidden realities, she is equally committed to critiquing the collusion between the photographic medium and hierarchies of power. Informed by her own experience with migration and cultural displacement, Afshar’s work takes the intrusiveness of the camera as a point of departure to unpack the relationship among truth, power and the image while disrupting traditional image-making conventions.
Afshar’s works are held in major collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Kadist Collection in Paris, National Gallery of Victoria, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Auckland University Art Collection, the Monash University of Modern Art Collection, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Her works have been exhibited widely in Australia and abroad. In 2023, her first major survey exhibition opened at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney accompanied by a publication. It was in 2021, that her first monograph Speak the Wind was published by MACK in London. Other exhibitions include: Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah Biennial 15, Sharjah (2023), The National 4: Australian Art Now (2023), STILL ALIVE, Aichi Triennial, Nagoya (2022); Between the Sun and the Moon, Lahore Biennale, Lahore (2020), Speak the Wind, Monash Gallery of Art & PHOTO 2022 Festival of Photography, Melbourne (2022). Afshar was a recipient of The Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship in 2021. She was awarded the National Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra in 2015, and the Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne in 2018. Afshar holds a PhD in Creative Arts from the Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia.
Education
2011-2019
- PhD - Creative Arts, Curtin University of Technology, WA, Australia
2009
- Fine Art Diploma (Photography/Sculpture), Meadowbank TAFE College, Sydney, Australia
2007
- Photojournalism Essential, UTS (University of Technology), Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, Sydney, Australia
2006
- Bachelor of Fine Art (Photography) with First Class Honours- Azad University of Art and Architecture – Tehran, Iran
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
- Undone, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
- A Curve is a Broken Line, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
- Aura, Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2022
- 'Speak the Wind', Milani Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
- ART AFER DARK: REMAIN BY HODA AFSHAR, Bunji Place, Victoria, Australia
2021
- 'Agonistes', Commissioned for PHOTO 2021 Festival of Photography, Melbourne, Australia
2019
- 'Remain', Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
- 'Remain', UQ Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia
- ‘Remain', Mansions of the Future, Lincoln, UK
- 'Behold', Perth Centre for Contemporary Photography
2018
- ‘Behold', Mars Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
'Behold', Horsham Regional Art Gallery in partnership with the Centre of Contemporary Photography, Horsham, Victoria
2017
- 'Behold', Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia
- ‘In the exodus, I love you more’, Wallflower Photomedia Gallery, Mildura Art Centre, Australia
2016
- ‘In the exodus, I love you more’, curated with Pippa Milne, Brightspace Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- 'Fables of Change', curated by Alasdair Foster, 'Month of Photography in Minsk' an international festival of photography in Belarus
2014
- 'Under Western Eyes', Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2013
- 'In-Between Spaces', curated by Alasdair Foster, Krasnodar Institute of Contemporary Art, PhotoVisa International Festival of Photography, Krasnodar, Russia
2012
- 'In-Between Spaces', Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2011
- 'In-Between Spaces', Pingyao International Photography Festival, China
2010
- ‘In-Between Spaces', Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
- Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest, curated by Fiona Rogers and Sarah Allen, South London Gallery
2023
- The Fold, NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
- New Photography Gallery collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
- Human, Prix Pictet finalist exhibition, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
- A River Flows Downstream, curated by Roï Saade, Middle East Institute, Washington DC, USA
- Let the Bād Speak, curated by Exo Art Lab, Turin, Italy
- Floating Land, Noosa Art Gallert, Sunshine Coast, Australia
- The National 4: Australian Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, Sydney
- TarraWarra Biennial 2023: ua usiusi faʻavaʻasavili, TarraWarra Museum of Art, curated by Léuli Eshrāghi, Victoria, Australia
- Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present, Sharjah Art Biennial, Sharjah
- Curiosa 2023, Paris Photo, curated by Anna Planas, Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris, France
2022
- STILL ALIVE, Aichi Triennale 2022, Aichi Arts Centre, Japan
- Our Islands, François Schneider Foundation's Contemporary Art Centre, France
- 20th Century Galleries, Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Sydney
- Landskrona Foto, International Festival of Photography, curated by Monica Allende, Sweden
- When the Wind Blows, curated by Verena Kaspar-Eisert and Liddy Scheffknecht, KUNST HAUS WIEN MUSEUM, Vienna
- QUEER: STORIES FROM THE NGV COLLECTION, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- AN INVINCIBLE SUMMER, artistic directors:Tim Clark and Walter Guadagnini, Fotografia Europea Festival of Photography in Reggio Emilia, Italy
- Destiny Disrupted, curated by Nur Shkembi, Granville Centre Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2021
- Soul Fury, Bendigo Art Gallery, Curated by Nur Shkembi, Bendigo, Australia
- WE CHANGE THE WORLD, Curated by Katharina Prugger, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
- IN PROGRESS: Laia Abril - Hoda Afshar - Widline Cadet - Adama Jalloh - Alba Zari, Curated by Aaron Schuman, Bristol Photo Festival, UK
- Ramsay Art Prize 2021 (finalist), Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- GETXOPHOTO Festival of Photography, Curated by Jon Uriarte, Basque Country
- TRUST at f/stop Festival of Photography, Curated by Susan Bright und Nina Strand, Leipzig, Germany
- 'REFRACTED REALITY', Curated by Anna Louise Richardson, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Australia
2020
- Group exhibition with Santiago Sierra, Darren Siwes and James Tylor, GAGPROJECTS, Adelaide, Australia
- ‘Burning World’, Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
- 'f_OCUS', a selection of works by women from the Moreland Art Collection, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
- 'Interrogating the Borders Between Us', The Physics Room, Christchurch, NZ
- 'Between the Sun and the Moon', Lahore Biennale (LB02), Curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Lahore, Pakistan
2019
- CIVILIZATION: THE WAY WE LIVE NOW, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
- REMEDY FOR RAGE, Women in Film and Photography, Objectifs, Singapore
- THE END/FUTURE OF HISTORY, Curated by Phuong Ngo, Presented with HYPHENATED PROJECTS as part of DUE WEST FESTIVAL, The Substation Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- 'The Shouting Valley', Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckand, NZ
- Eros, group exhibition, Foxjenssen Gallery, Sydney
- Beyond Place: Australian Contemporary Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego CA, USA
- ‘National Anthem 2019', Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia
- 'Eyes on Australia', part of ‘Eyes on Main Street’ international photography festival, curated by Lucy Stranger, North Carolina, USA
- 'In Her Words', Curated by Olivia Poloni, Horsham Regional Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia
- A selection of Portraits from 'Remain' on the billboards of The SUBSTATION Gallery, presented by Hyphenated Projects, Melbourne, Australia
- 'Just not Australian', Artspace, Sydney
2018
- PRIMAVERA 2018: Young Australian Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
- Curating ARTBAR November, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
- The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, HOTA, Gold Coast, Australia
- William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
- All We Can’t See: Illustrating the Nauru Files, Fortyfivedownstairs, Melbourne
- The Inner Apartment, Nishi Gallery, Canberra, Australia
- LEGACY+… collecting contemporary Hoda Afshar | Pat Brassington | David Rosetzky, curated by Anouska Phizacklea, Monash Gallery of Art (MGA), Melbourne
- Khalas, Curated by Phillip George & Nur Shkembi, UNSW Galleries, Sydney, Australia
- The Art of Collecting, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia
- Waqt al tagheer: Time of Change, curated by Abdul-Rahman Abdullah & Nur Shkembi, ACE Open, Adelaide, Australia
2017
- 'Photography & Place' slideshow, curated by Wawi Navarroza, Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia
- William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
- A Whole Different Animal, curated by Ros Winkler, Brightspace Gallery, Melbourne
- The Witching Hour, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia
2016
- Instagram's #MyStoryAus exhibition, the voices of fifteen female storytellers in Australia, Melbourne
- Obscura Festival, ‘Belonging’, group exhibition of Australian photography, curated by Daniel Boetker-Smith, Penang, Malaysia
- Gaffa Photo Festival, ‘Victory’, curated by Christine McFetridge, Sydney, Australia
- Australian Photobook of the Year Awards, Photobook Melbourne, Boyd School Studios, Melbourne, Australia
2015
- Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Open Finalist,Gold Coast Art Centre, Queensland, Australia
- National Photographic Portrait Prize, Canberra, Australia
2014
- Double Vision, curated by Konrad Winkler, Brightspace Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2013
- Group exhibition, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, open finalist, Gold Coast Art Centre, Queensland, Australia
- Mirror Mirror, curated by Linsey Gosper, Colour Factory Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2012
- Sub One Thousand, Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
- Group exhibition, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, finalist, Bridge Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Alight, Melody Smith Gallery, Perth, Australia
2011
- Images of Rapid Change, Tink Tank, Curtin University (co-curator/ coordinator, participant), WA, Australia
2010
- Uncover, PCP (Perth Centre For Photography), Perth, Australia
- Staffroom Show, Moores Building, Fremantle, Western Australia
2008
- The Carnival, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
- Greetings from Warburton: A group show of international and Aboriginal artists, Mori Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Selected Collections
- National Gallery of Victoria
- UQ Art Museum
- Murdoch University Art Collection
- Deakin University Art Collection
- Monash Gallery of Art
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Shepparton Art Museum
- The Getty Museum
- Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland
- Kadist Collection
- Art Gallery of South Australia
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Private art collections in Australia and outside including; Singapore, Paris, NYC, Berlin, NZ and Iran.
Selected Awards and Grants
2024
- Asia Pacific Art Awards, Creative Australia, Nominee
2023
- Prix Pictet, The global award in photography and sustainability, Nominee
2021
- Recipient of the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowships for outstanding talent and exceptional courage
- Ramsay Art Prize 2021, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, People's Choice Award, Winner
2020
- ACME Residency in London, Australian Council for the Arts
2019
- Career Development Grant, Australian Council for the Arts
- Prix Prictet, The global award in photography and sustainability, Nominee
- Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture, Finalist
- 208: William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Sotheby's Australia People's Choice Award, Winner
2018
- The Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Finalist
- William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Winner
- Shortlisted for Young Artist Award, Melbourne Art Foundation
2017
- William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Finalist
- Foam Paul Huf Award, Nominee
2016
- The Pool Grant, Finalist
- Australian Photobook of the Year Awards, Finalist
2015
- Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Finalist
- National Photographic Portrait Prize, Winner
2013
- Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, Finalist
2012
- Moran Contemporary Photographic Prizes, Finalist
2011
- Australian Postgraduate Award, Office of Research and Development/ Curtin University of Technology
- Artflight grant, Department of Culture and the Arts, WA, Australia
2006
- Winner of a prize and acknowledgment from the Third Kaveh Golestan Documentary Photography Award, Tehran, Iran
- Winner of ‘World Press Photo’ Educational Training Programme Contest, Tehran, Iran
Writings/Publications
2021
- Speak the Wind reviewed by Jorg Colberg on Conscientious Photography Magazine;
https://www.hodaafshar.com/single-post/speak-the-wind-reviewed-by-jorg-colberg-on-conscientious-photography-magazine - Speak the Wind reviewed in the Autumn 2021 issue of ArtReview Asia by Neha Kale;
https://artreview.com/photographer-hoda-afshar-documents-the-mystery-and-malice-of-the-wind/ - Speak the Wind, book review by Taous R.Dahmani for 1000 Words Magazine;
https://www.1000wordsmag.com/hoda-afshar/?fbclid=IwAR2SxL_LFvgtO4WPDHm0xA5f4JdJbvC0bAqqEZ58esEWH1RNo48c9lkFYdE - MICHAEL GRIEVE on SPEAK THE WIND for the British Journal of Photography
- Featured in The Age: Hoda Afshar has won the 2021 Ramsay Art Award’s people’s choice prize;
https://www.theage.com.au/culture/art-and-design/i-was-really-breaking-under-it-whistleblower-portraits-win-15-000-prize-20210811-p58hxs.html#comments - Featured in ABC News, Hoda Afshar documents Australian government whistleblowers in new photography and film project: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-06/hoda-afshar-documents-australian-government-whistleblowers-photo/13210836
- Interview with Namila Benson onThe Art Show, ABC Radio National: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-art-show/hoda-afshar-clarice-beckett/13184728
- 'Agonistes' featured in The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/feb/10/from-behrouz-boochani-to-bernard-collaery-photographer-hoda-afshar-turns-her-lens-on-whistleblowers
2020
- 'Agonistes' featured in Trigger#2:Uncertainty, Guest edited by Max Pinckers & Michiel de Cleene, Essay by Wim Vandekerckhove https://fomu.be/trigger/articles/trigger-2-uncertainty-is-out-1
- Nearest Truth, Ep. 47. Hoda Afshar & Hannah Darabi & Brad Feuerhelm https://nearesttruth.com/episodes/ep-47-a-conversation-with-hoda-afshar-hannah-darabi/
- In conversation with Megan Robson for Artist Voice, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
- Featured in NGV Magazine, Artist Profile, Issue 22 May-June
- Included on Collecteurs's Substance 100 list of the top artists and activists contributing to global change https://www.collecteurs.com/interview/substance-100
- Featured on Ocula Magazine, Lahore Biennale 02: Past Reminders, Possible Futures by Qalandar Memon: https://ocula.com/magazine/reports/second-lahore-biennale-pakistan/?fbclid=IwAR2zeOjWe4BSkg--WOhS1Sgkwx5GM9WNxDQWeg7YnCrk4J9BjGhivDqDPzU
- Featured in Collecteurs, A Conversation Between Hoda Afshar and Behrouz Boochani; https://www.collecteurs.com/interview/a-conversation-between-hoda-afshar-and-behrouz-boochani
2019
- Remain featured on Firecracker: https://www.fire-cracker.org/2...
- Bronwyn Watson, review of 'Remain' at UQ Art Museum Subverting the idyllic with tales of desperation, The Australian; https://www.theaustralian.com....
- Colin Pantall, Hoda Afshar, the individual, and their story, World Press Photo; https://witness.worldpressphot...
- PHMuseum, Featured as one of the 12 Women Photographers to Watch in 2019; https://phmuseum.com/news/12-w...
- Karen Green, 'Pictures of A Thousand Silences', Curtin University; https://news.curtin.edu.au/sto...
- In conversation with Omar Sakr, Liminal Magazine #86; https://www.liminalmag.com/int...
- 'Untold Stories', an essay by Tai Mitsuki on 'Remain', featured in Vault Magazine, Issue 25
2018
- Essay by Andy Butler on 'Remain' featured in Artguide Australia, Issue 117
- Interview/feature on AJ+, news and current events channel by Al Jazeera
- Essay by Naomi Cass on 'Remain', Primavera 2018 catalogue
- Primavera 2018 reviewed in Art Almanac by Eleanor Zeichner: https://www.art-almanac.com.au...
- Primavera 2018 reviewed by Andy Butler in The Monthly: https://www.themonthly.com.au/...
- Interview/Article on The Guardian, From Manus Island to Sanctions on Iran: the art and opinions of Hoda Afshar; https://www.theguardian.com/ar...
- Artist Profile, The Saturday Paper, Hoda Afshar's Lens on Manus; https://www.thesaturdaypaper.c...
- Featured on 'Cordite', a Journal of Literature, Art & Poetry: http://cordite.org.au/artworks...
- Interview on 3RRR Radio_SmartArts with Richard Watts
- Interview on ABC Radio National_The Hub on Art with Eddie Ayres, http://www.abc.net.au/radionat...
- Interview & Feature, ABC News, http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...
- 2018: "Khalas' exhibition at UNSW Galleries, interview, SBS World News, https://www.sbs.com.au/news/au...
- 'Behold' series featured in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/ar...
- Waqt al-tagheer: Time of Change reviewed by Cher Tan on Conversations-Runway: http://conversations.runway.or... al-tagheer: Time of change by collective 'eleven' featured in Artforum as a Critics Pick, reviewed by Eugenio Viola: https://www.artforum.com/picks...
- Waqt al-tagheer reviewed on Adelaide Review, by John Neylon, https://www.adelaidereview.com...
- Review & feature, The Conversation, by Christine Judith Nicholls, https://theconversation.com/wa... & feature, Broadsheet Adelaide, by by Daniela Frangos, https://www.broadsheet.com.au/...
2017
- Published in Splash & Grab magazine, words by Clare Hewitt, Issue #4, London
- Featured in British Journal of Photography, interview/words by Daniel Boetker-Smith, Invisible World, Issue 7863, London
- Featured in Fisheye Photobook, Vol.1, Published by Be Contents, France
- Feature and Interview, Where About Now, online magazine of art and culture, http://www.whereaboutnow.com/0...
- Featured on Aint-Bad magazine of photography, USA: https://www.aint-bad.com/artic...
- Interview by Guille Lasarte, PANTA: magazine of creative culture & activism, Issue 10, Berlin, Germany
- Featured on GUP magazine, Netherlands: http://www.gupmagazine.com/por...
2016
- Featured on THISISPAPER online journal of design and photography, Poland: http://thisispaper.com/hoda-af...
- Featured on Der Greif-Organization for Contemporary Photography, Augsburg, Germany: https://dergreif-online.de/art...
- Featured and reviewed by Marina Trancosoon on Impressa Magazine: photography made by women, Berlin: http://www.impressamag.com/in-...
- Interview and feature on Fisheye online journal of photography, France https://www.fisheyemagazine.fr...
- Featured on iGNANT online journal of art and photography, Berlin http://www.ignant.de/2016/09/0...
- Featured on Adventure Handbook online magazine, Australia http://theadventurehandbook.co...
- Der Greif Magazine, Issue #9, Germany2016: Common Ground Journal, Interview by Anita Tota, Issue 5, Home Sweet Home, http://www.commongroundjournal...
2015
- Clans, a publication by Fields Magazine, Berlin, Germany
2014
- Interview/Review Written by Alison Stieven-Taylor, ‘Hoda Afshar/Under Western Eyes’, L’Oeil de la Photographie Magazine, http://www.loeildelaphotograph...
- Dr. Marcus Bunyan, Review: ‘Hoda Afshar/ Under Western Eyes’ at Edmund Pearce Gallery, Art Blart,http://artblart.com/2014/04/13...
2013
- Alasdair Foster, "IN SEARCH OF PARADISE", Featured Artist, Cultural Development Consulting, http://culturaldevelopmentcons...
- Emil Canita interviews Hoda Afshar, Lucida Queensland Centre for Photography's online journal, http://lucidamagazine.com/?p=1...
2012
- BETA - Developments in Photography Online Journal, Issue 02, http://beta.org.au/
- 'The Carnival', Light Journeys Gallery: exhibiting women photographers of Australia
- Maya Rose Chauhan interviews Hoda Afshar, Grok Magazine, Issue #42011: Simon Cox, "Notes on the 'Alight' Exhibition", Catalogue essay, Melody Smith Gallery, Perth, Australia, http://melodysmithgallery.com/...
2011
- 2011: Darren Jorgensen, "Diverse Art of Identity", The West Australian, Saturday 14th April
