SEPIDEH MEHRABAN
(b. 1986 Tehran, Iran)

Sepideh Mehraban was born in 1986 in Tehran, Iran. She currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Mehraban obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Alzahra in Tehran, Iran, in 2009, where she also obtained her Masters in Fine Arts degree in 2011. In 2012 Mehraban furthered her studies by obtaining a postgraduate diploma in Fine Arts followed by a second Masters in Visual Arts degree from Michaelis School of Fine Arts in Cape Town, South Africa. She recently completed her thesis and a solo exhibition titled THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDA towards awarding a doctorate of Philosophy in Visual Arts at the University of Stellenbosch. In 2018, Mehraban notably curated a group exhibition titled Cape to Tehran: Re-imaging and re-imagining personal history in post-Apartheid South Africa and post-revolutionary Iran, at Gallery MOMO in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Solo exhibitions include THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDA, Mehraban’s graduate exhibition towards completing her Ph.D. at the University of Stellenbosch at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch in 2021. Until The Lions Have Their Own Historians, The History Of The Hunt Will Always Glorify The Hunter at SMITH Studio in Cape Town in 2019, and Retracing Memories, at Golestan Gallery in Tehran in 2015.

Mehraban’s work forms part of public and private collections such as Alzahra University in Tehran, Iran; the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa; Spier Arts Trust, Cape Town, South Africa; Thulamela Chambers, Johannesburg, South Africa; Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa; A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa and the Luciano Benetton Collection, Italy.

CURATED EXHIBITIONS

Cape to Tehran: Re-imaging and re-imagining personal history in post-Apartheid South Africa and post-revolutionary Iran, Gallery MOMO (Cape Town & Johannesburg), Feb/April 2018.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

THIS IS NOT PROPAGANDA, SMAC Gallery, May 2021, Stellenbosch

Until The Lions Have Their Own Historians, The History Of The Hunt Will Always Glorify The Hunter, SMITH Studio, Nov 2019, Cape Town.

Retracing Memories: public and personal history in contemporary Iran, Golestan gallery, January 2015, Tehran.
MFA Exhibition: Retracing Memories: Public and Personal History in Contemporary Iran , November 2014, Cape Town.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

Eyes on Iran, Organized by Woman, Life, Freedom Campaign, FDR Four Freedoms Park, 28 Nov - 1 Jan 2023, New York.
Ex Libris, curated by Barbara Wildenboer, Everard Read Gallery at Leeu Estate, 12 Nov - 4 Dec 2022, Franschhoek.
A Good Time, curated by Michaela Limberis, Aspire Auction House, 6 Oct - 9 Nov 2022, Cape Town.
FNB Art Joburg, WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery, 2-4 Sep 2022, Johannesburg.
The Phoenix Runaway, WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery, 18 Feb - 2 April 2022, Cape Town.
Silence calling from one continent to another, GOODMAN Gallery, 9 Oct - 10 Nov 2021, Johannesburg.
Sixty Six London, 6 Oct - 10 Oct 2021, London.
40 under 40, WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery, 25 Sep - 28 Feb 2021, Tulbagh.
Urban environments and imaginary spaces, 15 Sep 2021, Barcelona.
Space and Place, Curated by Khanya Mashabela, Galerie EIGEN + ART, 17 July - 4 Sep 2021, Leipzig.
In Your Shadow I Masking Realities, SMAC Gallery, 15 July - 21 August 2021, Cape Town.
Surroundings, Suburbia Contemporary Gallery, 18 Sep - 18 Jan 2020, Florence.
The Female Line, Curated by Manyaku Mashilo, SMAC Gallery, 29 August - 12 Oct 2019, Cape Town.
1-54 London, Spier Arts Trust, 3-6 Oct 2019.
Unresolved Category, Curated by Heinrich Groenewald, Gallery MOMO, 17 July - 10 August 2019, Cape Town.
Empathic Whispers, SMITH Studio, 10 July - 27 July 2019, Cape Town.
Between Homes,Between Forms,Between Languages, TMRW Gallery, 11 April - 4 May 2019, Johannesburg.
Monochrome, Barnard gallery, Cape Town, Jan 2019.
Rendezvous, SMITH Studio, Cape Town, Jan 2019.
The Main Complaint, Curated by Michaela Limberis, Zeitz MOCAA, 7 November - 28 February 2018-19, Cape Town.
Talk | If I lose the North, does that mean I cannot fi nd my South?, AKAA (Also Know As Africa) Art Fair, 11 November 2018, Paris.
Close Encounters, SMITH Studio, Cape Town, July 2018.
Cape Town Art Fair (gallery MOMO), Feb 2018.
SS 17, Gallery MOMO (Cape Town) 7 Dec - 13 Jan 2018.
Distill Motion, Smith Studio (Cape Town) 27 July - 19 August 2017.
A Painting Today, Stevenson (Cape Town) 6 March - 22 April 2017.
Art Meets Camera: Closer than ever (curated by Michaela Limberis), Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, March 2017
Charting (curated by Andrew Lamprecht), Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town, opens 7 July 2016
Two, SMITH Gallery, September 2015, Cape Town, South Africa.
Imago Mundi, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Sept - Nov 2015, Venice, Italy.
Art Meets Camera: Mechanisms of Memory, Joburg Fringe, Sept 2015, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Load Shedding, Commune1, July 2015, Cape Town, South Africa.
Mechanisms of Memory, Curated by Michaela Limberis, Turbine Art Fair, Turbine Hall, July 2015, Turbine Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Current, group show at SMITH gallery, May 2015, Cape Town, South Africa.
Pristine Land Interrupted (curated by Jackie Murray), AVA Gallery, 2015, Cape Town, South Africa.
Cape Town Art Fair (AVA gallery), Febraury 2015, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa.
Only Parts, Wits gallery, August 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Turbine Art Fair. August 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Modern Painting, Kalk Bay Modern, July 2014, Cape Town, South Africa
Paint+, Nirox Project, September 2013, Johannesburg, South Africa.
'in', Brundyn+ gallery, January 2013, Cape Town, South Africa.
'Grad show' , Michaelis gallery, December 2012, Cape Town, South Africa.
'Haft negah', Niavaran gallery, May 2012, Tehran, Iran.
'100 asar 100 honarmand', Golestan gallery, August 2012, Tehran, Iran.
'Garden',Symposium of painting, September 2011, Dunas Kastreda, Slovakia.
Symposium of Painting, May 2010, Touvre, France.
Charity group exhibition, 2010, Kuwait.
'100 asar 100 honarmand', Golestan gallery, August 2009, Tehran, Iran.
Symposium of painting, Limes gallery, September 2009,Komarno, Slovakia.