Shirin Aliabadi

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Shirin Aliabadi (March 10, 1973 – October 1, 2018) was an Iranian contemporary artist who worked with photography and drawing. Her work explored women’s lives, gender roles, and how fashion and beauty intersect with society.

She was born in Tehran, Iran. Her mother Maymanat was an artist who taught at Tehran University, and her father Iraj was a poet. Growing up in a creative family, Aliabadi was encouraged by her older brother to explore art and pop culture. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, her family supported her education abroad. She studied art history at the University of Paris, earning a master’s degree.

In 1993 she married fellow artist Farhad Moshiri. She split her time between Paris and Tehran, but was primarily based in Tehran. For many years she was represented by Third Line gallery in Dubai. Her work was shown in solo exhibitions around the world and in major group shows in Paris, Glasgow, London, and beyond. Her art is in collections such as Deutsche Bank, the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and the Farjam Collection in Dubai.

Aliabadi’s art looked at the mixed influences on young urban Iranian women. She examined tensions between traditional values, religious restrictions, and global Western culture. Her notable works include Girls in Cars (2005), which portrays women in cars in Tehran heading to parties or simply cruising. The Miss Hybrid series (2008) shows young women with bleached hair, blue contacts, makeup, and bright headscarves, often with band-aids on their noses to reference a fashion trend about artificial beauty. In 2006 she collaborated with Farhad Moshiri on Operation Supermarket, a project shown at the 2008 Singapore Biennale that used altered consumer packaging to critique consumerism and capitalism.

Aliabadi died in Tehran after fighting cancer. Her work remains influential for its playful yet sharp commentary on gender, identity, and the role of women in Iranian society.