SHAMIRAN ISTIFAN
Artist Bio
SHAMIRAN ISTIFAN
Shamiran Istifan is a visual artist based in Zurich. Her desire to tell stories originated in the experience of growing up in the so-called two-worldssystem which formed for her generation. Istifan's art practice focuses on layered social dynamics, motivated by her personal experience of the way class, gender and religion shape collectivism, politics and personal relationships. Through an intimate aesthetic her work points to way symbolism permeates daily life.
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Press 2021 2020
Solo Shows Jul 2021 Mar 2021 May 2020
Azeema Magazine (Print) - London, UK YEOJA Magazine (Online) - Berlin, Germany
'Law&Order' exhibition in collaboration with Persia Beheshti and Ruba Al-Sweel at Kulturfolger - Zurich, Switzerland 'G by Destiny' exhibition at All Stars - Lausanne, Switzerland 'Micro Entities' exhibition at Material - Zurich, Switzerland
CV
Group Shows Oct 21 Oct 21 Oct 21 Oct 21 Sept 21 Sept 21 Jun 2021 Jun 2021 Apr 2021 Apr 2021 Apr 2021 Feb 2021 Dec 2020 Nov 2020 Sept 2020 Aug 2020 Jul 2020 Feb 2020 Dec 2019 Aug 2019 Mar 2019 Dec 2018 Dec 2018 Oct 2018 Sept 2018 Aug 2018
Awards Sept 2021
'Independent and Non-Partisan Patterns, my Memri TV 4-1' for 'Reflection is the Daughter of the Scandal' at Angela Mewes - Berlin, Germany 'Hanging Garden' for 'As We Gaze Upon Her' at Warehouse421 - Abu Dhabi, UAE 'Memorial Service' for 'Depuis des Lunes' at Urgent Paradise - Lausanne, Switzerland 'Ex Amore Vita' screening at the Independent Iraqi Film Festival 'Ex Amore Vita: Ladies' Room' at Werkschau for Haus Konstruktiv - Zurich, Switzerland 'Haunted by Kings & Kovboys', a video work for 'Garden of e-arthly delights' at Sumac Space - Dubai, UAE 'We're carrying you' bookshelf intervention at Kunsthalle - Zurich, Switzerland 'TM' mirror pieces for 'Kif Kif' at Le Consulat - Paris, France 'Ex Amore Vita: Darbuka' for '5th floor' at Centre d'Art Contemporain - Geneva, Switzerland 'No Time For Your Crocodile Tears' essay contribution with Lhaga Khindoor for 'LOVE: Terms and Conditions' by Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi at Maria Bernheim Gallery - Zurich, Switzerland 'Turshi' installation in collaboration with Fatemeh Kazemi and Shaima Ayoub for 'From Bread to Cake' at The II Platform - Teheran, Iran 'Tamam and I said Tamam' for 'Nour el Ain' at Karma Gallery International - Zurich, Switzerland 'Ex Amore Vita' a wedding series: two videos and one room installation for 2nd cycle Gessnerallee - Zurich, Switzerland 'Kaempfer<3en' in collaboration with Roman Selim Khereddine for al vista Space - Zurich, Switzerland 'So proud of her firstborn, I can tell' in collaboration with Pashk Cenaj for 1st cycle Gessnerallee - Zurich, Switzerland 'Diaspora in Bloom' in a virtual gallery - San Francisco, USA 'Summer of Suspense' at Kunsthalle - Zurich, Switzerland 'Now that they're all around, you‘re a 7mar too and 'Abundbashmayo' at Karma Gallery - Zurich, Switzerland 'Teleportation Loop Player' at the Les Urbaines Festival - Lausanne, Switzerland 'Extended Fantasy' Instagram Face Filter Exhibition by Tunica Studios shown during Fashion Weeks in New York and Paris 'Exotic> <Pleasures> from <The East' for 'Feast of the Peasant'- Zurich, Switzerland 'Dead, Alive and Bloody Furious' - Zurich, Switzerland and Almaty, Kazakhstan 'Blueprint My Future' - Zurich, Switzerland 'Better Times Are Coming Soon (Inshallah)' in Baden, Switzerland 'Nouveau Poor' in Zurich, Switzerland 'Decolonization of Letters' in Almaty, Kazakhstan
Werkschau Prize awarded by Kanton of Zurich for 'Ex Amore Vita: Ladies' Room'
Special Projects
Oct 21 Curation of the 'Walktalk' with Lhaga Khondoor, a guided series supported by Gessnerallee and Kunsthalle Zurich until April 2022 - Zurich, Switzerland 2018 Ongoing project: various homemade soap collections
Publications
'G by Destiny and Other Tales' for Artwork Magazine Issue - London, United Kingdom 'Mama's Hands & Baba's Tools' for the publication of 'From Bread to Cake' at The II Platform - Teheran, Iran 'All you Get Back is that Fluoride Stare' a written essay contribution for Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi's show at the Swiss Institute - New York, USA
Education Master of Arts_Zurich University of the Arts 2020
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Press Print: AZEEMA Magazine _ Issue Aug 21 * London, UK: The Assyrian Swiss-based artist who shares the stories and rituals of an identity that is otherwise forgotten.
Talk to me about your practise. How did you know being an artist was your path? I didn’t plan to become an artist until more recently. Growing up I didn’t know any artists or creatives, so I didn’t imagine myself being one. The history, memory, knowledge, and wisdom of the Assyrian people are transferred orally, and I am amongst the first generation that has had wider access to platforms that can make our people finally more seen and heard. I want to carry on our traditions of storytelling but rather than use words or archival documents I want to tell stories visually and through materials that are intimate to the collective life of my community, the majority of whom now live in exile, spread across many places.
Words and interview by Evar Hussayni Shamiran and I have been following each other on Instagram for quite some time. We often exchange matching sentiments (memes and emoji reactions) towards politically charged subject matters that are happening across the world, but especially that which affects us both, being from Mesopotamia. Last year, she sent me a message explaining that she was coming to London for a break, and since it was International Woman’s Day, I directed her to a few events that were happening around town. We happened to bump into each other at one of them, and it was nothing but love. We began chatting, and I soon noticed the endless crossovers in our thought patterns, our art, our Assyrian and Kurdish identities, our neighbouring homes in Beth Nahrain and Kurdistan, and our love for the sun and the sea. Two weeks later the whole world went into lockdown, but our communication continued, and we carried on finding solace in each other’s work and research. When the opportunity came to share Shamiran’s work, I took it in an instance. Shamiran is a visual artist based in Zurich who, through mixed media, creates and builds installations and films that explore different forms of storytelling in relation to her Assyrian identity. By focusing on different layers of social dynamics, she centralises untold stories and narratives that are commonly erased, and brings them into a space where we can engage and learn. Through continuous use of symbolic references, Shamiran transcends the traditional art aesthetic by bringing her playful personality into it. An example of her work is her most recent film “Ex Amore Vita”, which will be presented at the Independent Iraqi Film festival this year. The film explores the unconscious spatial segregation that happens at Assyrian weddings, hinting mainly towards Assyrian women who gather in the toilets to socialise, have a smoke and gossip something many of us from different walks of life across West Asian diasporas can relate to.
Shamiran Istifan Photography by James Bantone
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Article
SHAMIRAN ISTIFAN
I speak to Shamiran in detail about Assyrian culture, what it was like growing up in the Swiss diaspora, her personal and traditional rituals (including starting every morning with chocolate) and a further insight into several of her projects and continuous research.
I don’t set out to represent ‘Assyrian life’, or to speak for Assyrians. I want to find a way to share my own reflections on how I experience living in parallel worlds in the same geographical spot, and the tensions that constitute this experience of being both Assyrian and European/Swiss. I always knew that I wanted to engage in this story-telling work, and to share my observations, and it made sense to start speaking visually and somehow through chance and different circumstances, I developed an art practice. My practice has grown too, but it remains grounded in what I call ‘emotional realism’ – the need to reflect on my experience and to express it visually and materially. I know this might sound romantic, and I don’t know if I will always frame it this way, but my practice started from this urgency to express myself, and this remains fundamental to my work as an artist. Also, the political source of that urgency is why me taking over the spaces are in fact part of the art and a statement itself. How does your heritage influence your work? My heritage is politically charged, even within the European diaspora enclave I grew up in. During my teenage years I considered the collective co-dependency that characterises the diaspora community as a heavy duty, almost a burden. I used to wish it was lighter, especially for my parents, and that we had more capacity to be open to other things. But recently, I have been able to turn it into my biggest inspiration. For us it’s normal how tragedy and comedy are entangled, how grief and loss are immediately next to celebration and joy. This emotional flexibility and fluidity, demanded by the density and distance of events constantly happening both here and in the homeland, seems to be the source of some wisdom. Growing up as an Assyrian woman in a Western society was quite troublesome within both of my parallel societies. It comes with a lot of paradoxes, histories of abuse and contending responsibilities, which demands a certain type of strength because, pragmatically speaking, there is no space for emotional and mental rest for us. Space is a key word: for my people who are survivors of a genocide, which many seek to deny or ignore, it means a loss of geographical, social, historical, and cultural space as an indigenous minority, a minority that continues to face violent persecution in their homeland. Being constantly haunted by
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PORTFOLIO
MONOGRAM
Louis Vuitton logo transformed into an arabic word with new meaning by adding two dots.
= بانbana
1. to separate, to become distinct, to sunder 2. to be or become evident, to come out, to be or become clearly visible by way of separation
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Hanging Garden 'As We Gaze Upon Her'_Banat Collective at Warehouse421* Abu Dhabi, UAE
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Ex Amore Vita: Ladies' Room Haus Konstruktiv_Werkschau * Zurich, Switzerland
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Law & Order Kulturfolger * Zurich, Switzerland
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G by Destiny All Stars * Lausanne, Switzerland
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G by Destiny All Stars * Lausanne, Switzerland
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Ex Amore Vita
'2nd Cycle' Gessnerallee * Zurich, Switzerland 'Independent Iraqi Film Festival' * Iraq Watch Online
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Ex Amore Vita '2nd Cycle' Gessnerallee * Zurich, Switzerland '5th Floor'_Centre d'Art Contemporain * Geneva, Switzerland Watch Online
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Teleportation Loop Player 'Les Urbaines Festival' * Lausanne, Switzerland
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Kaempfer<3en Al_Vista * Zurich, Switzerland
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Independent and Non-Partisan Patterns, my Memri TV 4-1 'Reflection is the Daughter of the Scandal'_Angela Mewes * Berlin, Germany
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TM & Memorial Service 'Kif Kif'_Le Consulat * Paris, France 'Depuis des Lunes'_Urgent Paradise * Lausanne, Switzerland
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Haunted by Kings & Kovboys 'Garden of E-arthly Delights'_Sumac Space * Dubai, UAE Watch Online
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Tamam and I said Tamam 'Nour el Ain'_Karma Gallery International * Zurich, Switzerland
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Abundbashmayo & Now that they’re all around, you’re a 7maar too University of the Arts * Zurich, Switzerland Karma Gallery * Zurich Switzerland
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Micro Entities Solo Show_Material * Zurich, Switzerland
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Tree of Life 'Diaspora in Bloom' * San Fransico, USA
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<Exotic> <Pleasures> from <The East> 'Feast of the Peasant' * Zurich, Switzerland
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Jama3a Soap
Basta Beirut * Beirut, Lebanon
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Shamiran Istifan Agnesstrasse 39 8004 Zurich, CH shamiran.istifan@gmail.com Instagram: @kafirahm