Biography
Sofi Basseghi is a visual artist based in Melbourne, Australia. She completed a Masters of Fine Arts degree in 2007 at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and pursued further graduate studies in directing in 2011 at the Victorian College of the Arts school of Film and Television. In 2014 she began her PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in Arts and completed in early 2021.
Her award winning films, photographs and video work have been exhibited at internationally acclaimed venues and galleries including The SUBSTATION, Monash Gallery of Art, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome. Basseghi has also participated in numerous artist talks and symposiums.
Her artwork is based predominantly on real and fictitious stories born of experiences arising from the complexities of the cultural, religious and social climate people find themselves in. Her desire to cross inflicted boundaries and question cultural and traditional mores is evident in her lens-based work, which in recent years, has predominantly focused on narrative, documentary and experimental multi-channel video installations
Sofi serves on the Board of West Space and she is a committee member on the Arts Advisory Committee at Manningham Council.
She is also a sessional lecturer in the School of Art at RMIT and is working towards a solo exhibition due to open in April 2021 (Covid depending).
Education
2014-2021
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Art, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT),Melbourne, VIC [Recipient of the Australian Post Graduate Award]
2011
Graduate Diploma (Narrative), Film & Television, VCA, Melbourne, VIC
2006-2007
Master of Fine Art, RMIT, Melbourne, VIC
2002-2005
Bachelor of Media Arts, Honours, [First Class], RMIT, Melbourne, VIC
Solo Exhibitions
2021
‘Ripples from the Unseen’, upcoming at The SUBSTATION, Newport, Video Installation
2016
‘Rebellious Fragments’, West Space Gallery, Melbourne, Video Installation
2016
‘Ascending Voices’, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne, Video Installation
2009
‘Sayeh Saran’, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran, Photographic
2007
‘Salt on Slugs’, 69 Smith Street Gallery, Abbotsford, VIC, Mixed Media
‘Turmoil’, 69 Smith Street Gallery, Abbotsford, VIC, Photographic
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020
‘The new ab/normal’, RMIT Gallery, Melbourne Australia
2019
Bowness Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
‘Far Flung’, a project initiated by Tammy Wong Hulbert, Manningham Council, VIC, Australia
2018
Bowness Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
The Family Mantle’, Curated by Pia Johnson Bundoora Homestead Arts Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Photographic
‘Cultural Crossroads’, Curated by Vanessa Godden, The Aurora Picture Show, Houston, USA, Video
‘Hyphenated’, Curated by Tammy Wong Hulbert and Phuong Ngo, The Substation, VIC, Australia, Video Installation
‘Conspicuous Presence’, Curated by Caroline Phillips and the Women’s Art Register, Trocadero, Australia, Mixed Media
2017
‘Visionary Art Show’, Palazzo Vernazza Castromediano, Lecce, Italy, Video
‘Identity Intersection’, Counihan Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Video Installation
‘The Lines In Between’, Seventh Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Video Installation
‘Light Works’, MLC Common Ground Exhibition Space, Melbourne, Australia, Photographic
‘Turtles all the way down’, King’s Leap Gallery, NY, USA & Blindside Gallery as part of Channels Festival, Video
2016
‘Museum of International Connectivity’, The Dirty Dozen, Curated by Dr Phil Edwards
Morgan Court public art boxes installation in collaboration with Dr Phil Edwards for the City of Moreland, Glenroy, Australia, Mixed Media Installation
2015
Incinerator Art Award Finalist’s Exhibition, Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Video ‘In a Pink Room’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Photographic
2014
MooneeFest Residency, Moonee Art Space, Melbourne, Australia, Photographic
‘Imaginary’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Video Installation
‘Urban Storytellers’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Video Installation
2013
‘Regeneration’, Primo Piano Gallery, Lecce, Italy, Video Installation
Queensland Multicultural Week Inaugural Film Festival 2013, Brisbane, Australia, Short Film
‘Head On’, Photo FestivalandPortrait Prize, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, photographic portraits
‘Shoot it Out’ On the Silk Road, Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy, Short Film
2012
Ionian International Digital Film Festival (IIDFF), Lefkas, Greece, Short Film
Iranian Film Festival Australia, ACMI, Melbourne,Australia, Short Film
‘Icons’, Kings ARI, Melbourne, VIC, Melbourne, Australia, Video Installation, Photographic
Brantford Film Festival, Brantford, Canada, Short Film
Crucifixion, Shirin Gallery, Tehran, Iran, Photographic
2011
VCA Graduate Screenings, ACMI, Melbourne, VIC, Short Film
2008
Hatched 2008, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), Perth, WA, Photographic
Humming a New Diaspora, Blindside Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Video Installation
2007
Directors Lounge 2008, Scala Theatre, Berlin, Video
2006
Show Me Yours, co-curated with Abina Manning from the Video Data Bank Chicago, The Horse Bazaar, VIC, Video
A Portrait of Salote Tawale, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy, VIC, Photographic
2006
Show Me Yours, co-curated with Abina Manning from the Video Data Bank Chicago, The Horse Bazaar, VIC, Video
A Portrait of Salote Tawale, Seventh Gallery, Fitzroy, VIC, Photographic
2005
The Cherrypickers, RMIT Honours Show, 69 Smith St Gallery, Abbotsford, VIC, Video Installation
2004
Whoever isn’t in this circle, doesn’t take part in this mystery, Persian Gardens Ancient Wisdom New Vision Exhibition,
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran, Video Installation
Michka, Graduate Exhibition, Smyrnios Gallery, Prahran, VIC, Photographic
2003
We Call This Paradise, First Site Gallery, Melbourne, VIC, Photographic
Residencies
2015
Artists Incubator Glenroy, Melbourne, Australia (http://www.artists–incubator.com/artists/)
Employment in Higher Education
2019-current
Sessional Lecturer (Higher Education) at the School of Art at RMIT University
2019
Lecture/presentation for Master of Photography RMIT University
Seminars/Symposiums/PanelDiscussions
2018
AAANZ 2018 conference Aesthetics, Politics and Histories: The Social Context of ArtPanel member with Tammy Wong Hulbert and Rhett D’Costa
CAST Out loud: Artists from the Hyphenated Exhibition Panel Discussion at RMIT University
2017
Identity Intersection, Women, Art and Cultural Perspective, Counihan Gallery
2016
The Persian Prospect
Centre for Art Society and Transformation (CAST) –RMIT University
2015
The Social Response (a Dialogue around Art and Social Engagement)
Centre for Art Society and Transformation (CAST) –RMIT University
Honours, Grants and Awards
2021
Recipient of $12000 Creative Victoria Grant
2020
Recipient of $12000 Australia Council for the Arts Grant
2019
Recipient of a $15000 Creative Victoria Grant
Bowness Prize Finalist, Monash Gallery of Art
2018
Bowness Prize Finalist, Monash Gallery of Art
2015
Incinerator Art Award Finalist –Art for Social Change
2014
Australian Post Graduate Award
2013
Film Award – ‘The Orchard’- First prize at the Queensland Multicultural Film Festival
2012
Film Award –‘The Orchard’-Best Short Film, Best Script, Best Editing and BestCinematography in a Short film at the Ionian International Digital Film Festival –Greece
2008
Selected to participate in Hatched 08 an exhibition of works by top students from top AustralianUniversities at Perth Institute of Contemporary Art
2005
First Class Honours Degree
2004
Became a member of Golden Key International Honour Society
Media Interviews
2015
Syn Media Art Smitten – A correspondence with Sofi Basseghi & Hannah Nowlan: Incinerator Art Award Finalists
2013
Meanjin online magazine – A correspondence with Sofi Basseghi
3ZZZ Community Radio Interviewing Sofi Basseghi
2007
SBS Radio – World View – Losing the treasures of Persian culture
SBS Radio – Persian Service – Interview with Sofi Basseghi
Board Member
2018-current
West Space https://westspace.org.au/about/people
Committee Member
2018-current
Arts Advisory Committee member at Manningham Council