Samira Abbassy

Samira Abbassy studied at Kent Institute of Art & Design and Birmingham City University. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at London and New York City. Work by Samira Abbassy is recorded in the collections of Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Grey Art Gallery. Distinctions recorded are Yaddo Fellowship, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Joan Mitchell Foundation and New York Foundation for the Arts.

• Name — Samira Abbassy • Other Names — Samira al-Abbasi, Samira Abbasi • Born — 1965 • Birthplace — Ahvaz, Imperial State of Persia (now Iran) • Education — Birmingham Polytechnic, Canterbury College of Art (BFA) • Occupation — Visual artist • Known for — Painting, drawing • Website — https: www.samiraabbassy.com/

Samira Abbasy was born in 1965 to an Arab family, in the city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan Province, Imperial State of Persia (now Iran). Her family moved to London when she was two years old, and she was raised in Kent. She studied drawing at Birmingham Polytechnic (now Birmingham City University) and then Canterbury College of Art (now Kent Institute of Art & Design), where she obtained a BFA degree in painting in 1987.

Abbasy began making art in the 1980s. After graduating, she exhibited her work in London for ten years, and then moved to New York City in 1998. Abbasy's work is a marriage between Western art and Eastern art traditions, including referencing Christian iconography, as well as Persian and Indian miniature painting, Chinese painting, and Qajar court painting. She was awarded a fellowship by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in 2007. She was affiliated with the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective. The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) awarded her a lifetime membership, in recognition of her work in developing the EFA Studio Program. Abbasy's artworks are in public museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Grey Art Museum collection at New York University.