Sara Rahbar

Sara Rahbar was born in Tehran, Iran in 1976. But both the revolution in Iran and the start of the Iran Iraq war forced her to escape her birthplace. She had no choice but to leave family behind and abandon her home. This was so much to digest at such a young age that it only resulted by leaving a void in her. Ironically, it was these series of events that would forever change and shape Rahbar into the artist and humanitarian she is today. Today, Rahbar has found a way to harness her experiences and life journeys in effort to educate and transform the world through her alluring works of art.

Rahbar studied Fine Art in London, and Design in New York. Her work has been shown in several galleries and museums worldwide. She was featured at the Queens Museum of Art in their Biennial show. It was here where Rahbar was selected out of 52 artists to do a teaching artist residency, and to do a second piece for the Biennial. Rahbar chose to do a room-sized installation on the subject of war in the Middle East, where the documentary on the youth culture on Iran called, “Nobody’s Enemy” produced and directed by Neda Sarmast played. The collaboration was a complete success and garnished critical acclaim in numerous publications worldwide.

A few teaching assignments she decided to take on included, but definitely not limited to, “Woman for Afghan Woman” in addition to a professional development program for correctional educators and at the Flushing Library in New York. Rahbar’s art has both an educational and healing presence. Taking notice of this, The Queens Museum of Art took advantage of the positive effects of her work by using it for art therapy workshops for severely disabled children.

She has been an art director for the Persian Arts Festival,a film Photographer and Production for various films and documentaries. Furthermore, Rahbar has also been a freelance photographer in Iran for several years. Her work has been reviewed and praised in a multitude of prominent publications all over the world including; The New York Times, BBC Persian, Time Out New York, Tehran Magazine, Namak, Radio Farda, Venuszine, Iranian, Persian Mirror, Queens International Everything All at Once Vol 3, PS1 MoMA: Emergency Room, Abort Magazine, Shrug magazine, Payvand, Pars Arts, Iran Times, Oziran and Yen magazine.

She has collaborated with many prominent artists including Jaishri Abichandani, Neda Sarmast, Renzo Ortega, Markus Wambsganss and Hosein Gourchian to name a few.

Rahbar’s work has been featured on book covers such as, Melody Moezzi’s WAR ..: Real Stories of American Muslims. Additionally, her photography featuring YAS, Iran’s biggest Hip Hop artist, spread virally via the internet. She documented his life and career for the past three years which led to an album cover, hundreds of publications, websites/interviews, music blogs, and video clips ..thus far. Her work has been featured as the face of the 2008 Noor Film Festival.

Rahbar has been invited to many speaking engagements, and most recently spoke at the Queens Museum of Art at the School of Visual Arts and at el MUSEO del barrio.

Rahbar currently resides happily in her New York studio. 

Tell A Friend About This Artist