Biography |
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Sofi Basseghi is a visual artist based in Melbourne, Australia. She completed a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 2007 at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and pursued further graduate studies in directing in 2011 at the Victorian College of the Arts school of Film and Television. In 2014 she began her PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in Arts and completed in early 2021. Her award winning films, photographs and video work have been exhibited at internationally acclaimed venues and galleries including The SUBSTATION, Monash Gallery of Art, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. Basseghi has also participated in numerous artist talks and symposiums. Her artwork is based predominantly on real and fictitious stories born of experiences arising from the complexities of the cultural, religious and social climate people find themselves in. Her desire to cross inflicted boundaries and question cultural and traditional mores is evident in her lens-based work, which in recent years, has predominantly focused on narrative, documentary and experimental multi channel video installations Sofi serves on the Board of West Space and she is a committee member on the Arts Advisory Committee at Manningham Council. She is also a sessional lecturer in the School of Art at RMIT and is working towards a solo exhibition due to open in April 2021 (Covid depending). |
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Education |
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2014-2021 | Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Art, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Melbourne, VIC [Recipient of the Australian Post Graduate Award] |
2011 | Graduate Diploma (Narrative), Film & Television, VCA, Melbourne, VIC |
2006-2007 | Master of Fine Art, RMIT, Melbourne, VIC |
2002-2005-2005 | Bachelor of Media Arts, Honours, [First Class], RMIT, Melbourne, VIC |
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Solo Exhibitions |
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2021 | ‘Ripples from the Unseen’, upcoming at The SUBSTATION, Newport, Video Installation |
2016 | ‘Rebellious Fragments’, West Space Gallery, Melbourne, Video Installation |
2016 | ‘Ascending Voices’, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne, Video Installation |
2009 | ‘Sayeh Saran’, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran, Photographic |
2007 |
‘Salt on Slugs’, 69 Smith Street Gallery, Abbotsford, VIC, Mixed Media ‘Turmoil’, 69 Smith Street Gallery, Abbotsford, VIC, Photographic |
Selected Group Exhibitions |
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2020 |
‘The new ab/normal’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne Australia |
2019 |
Bowness Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia ‘Far Flung’, a project initiated by Tammy Wong Hulbert, Manningham Council, VIC, Australia |
2018 |
Bowness Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia‘The Family Mantle’, Curated by Pia Johnson Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Photographic‘Cultural Crossroads’, Curated by Vanessa Godden, The Aurora Picture Show, Houston, USA, Video‘Hyphenated’, Curated by Tammy Wong Hulbert and Phuong Ngo, The Substation, VIC, Australia, Video Installation‘Conspicuous Presence’, Curated by Caroline Phillips and the Women’s Art Register, Trocadero, Australia, Mixed Media |
2017 |
‘Identity Intersection’, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Video Installation‘The Lines In Between’, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Video Installation‘Light Works’, MLC Common Ground Exhibition Space, Melbourne, Australia, Photographic‘Turtles all the way down’, King’s Leap Gallery, NY, USA & Blindside Gallery as part of Channels Festival, Video |
2016 |
‘Museum of International Connectivity’, The Dirty Dozen, Curated by Dr Phil Edwards Morgan Court public art boxes installation in collaboration with Dr Phil Edwards for the City of Moreland, Glenroy, Australia, Mixed Media Installation |
2015 |
Incinerator Art Award Finalist’s Exhibition, Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Video ‘In a Pink Room’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Photographic |
2014 |
MooneeFest Residency, Moonee Art Space, Melbourne, Australia, Photographic ‘Imaginary’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Video Installation ‘Urban Storytellers’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Video Installation |
2013 | ‘Regeneration’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Video Installation Queensland Multicultural Week Inaugural Film Festival 2013, Brisbane, Australia, Short Film ‘Head On’, Photo FestivalandPortrait Prize, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, photographic portraits‘Shoot it Out’ On the Silk Road, Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, Short Film |
2012 |
Ionian International Digital Film Festival (IIDFF), Lefkas, Greece, Short Film Iranian Film Festival Australia, ACMI, Melbourne, Australia, Short Film ‘Icons’, Kings ARI, Melbourne, VIC, Melbourne, Australia, Video Installation, Photographic Brantford Film Festival, Brantford, Canada, Short Film Crucifixion, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran, Photographic |
2011 | VCA Graduate Screenings, ACMI, Melbourne, VIC, Short Film |
2008 | Hatched 2008, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), Perth, WA, Photographic Humming a New Diaspora, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Video Installation |
2007 |
Directors Lounge 2008, Scala Theatre, Berlin, Video |
2006 |
Show Me Yours, co-curated with Abina Manning from the Video Data Bank Chicago, The Horse Bazaar, VIC, Video A Portrait of Salote Tawale, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy, VIC, Photographic |
2005 |
The Cherrypickers, RMIT Honours Show, 69 Smith St Gallery, Abbotsford, VIC, Video Installation |
2004 |
Whoever isn’t in this circle, doesn’t take part in this mystery, Persian Gardens Ancient Wisdom New Vision Exhibition, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran, Video Installation Michka, Graduate Exhibition, Smyrnios Gallery, Prahran, VIC, Photographic |
2003 | We Call This Paradise, First Site Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Photographic |
Residencies |
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2015 | Artists Incubator Glenroy, Melbourne, Australia (http://www.artists-incubator.com/artists/) |
Employment in Higher Education |
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2019-current | Sessional Lecturer (Higher Education) at the School of Art at RMIT University |
2019 | Lecture/presentation for Master of Photography RMIT University |
Seminars /Symposiums/Panel Discussions |
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2018 | AAANZ 2018 conference Aesthetics, Politics and Histories: The Social Context of Art Panel member with Tammy Wong Hulbert and Rhett D’Costa CAST Out loud: Artists from the Hyphenated Exhibition Panel Discussion at RMIT University |
2017 | Identity Intersection, Women, Art and Cultural Perspective, Counihan Gallery |
2016 |
The Persian Prospect Centre for Art Society and Transformation (CAST) – RMIT University |
2015 |
The Social Response (a Dialogue around Art and Social Engagement) Centre for Art Society and Transformation (CAST) – RMIT University |
Honours, Grants and Awards |
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2021 | Recipient of $12000 Creative Victoria Grant |
2020 | Recipient of $12000 Australia Council for the Arts Grant |
2019 | Recipient of a $15000 Creative Victoria Grant Bowness Prize Finalist, Monash Gallery of Art |
2018 | Bowness Prize Finalist, Monash Gallery of Art |
2015 | Incinerator Art Award Finalist - Art for Social Change |
2014 | Australian Post Graduate Award |
2013 | Film Award – ‘The Orchard’- First prize at the Queensland Multicultural Film Festival |
2012 | Film Award – ‘The Orchard’- Best Short Film, Best Script, Best Editing and Best Cinematography in a Short film at the Ionian International Digital Film Festival – Greece |
2008 | Selected to participate in Hatched 08 an exhibition of works by top students from top Australian Universities at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art |
2005 | First Class Honours Degree |
2004 | Became a member of Golden Key International Honour Society |
Media Interviews |
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2015 | Syn Media Art Smitten - A correspondence with Sofi Basseghi & Hannah Nowlan: Incinerator Art Award Finalists |
2013 |
Meanjin online magazine - A correspondence with Sofi Basseghi 3ZZZ Community Radio Interviewing Sofi Basseghi |
2007 | SBS Radio – World View - Losing the treasures of Persian culture |
2007 |
SBS Radio – Persian Service - Interview with Sofi Basseghi |
Board Member |
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2018-current | West Space https://westspace.org.au/about/people |
Committee Member |
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2018-current | Arts Advisory Committee member at Manningham Council |
© Sofi Basseghi 2002-2019