Sanam Khatibi
Sanam Khatibi’s works deal with animality, and our primal impulses and the core of her practice interrogates our relationship to power structures, specifically the duality of triumph and failure. The recurrent themes that often feature in her work question our relationship with excess, loss of control, bestiality, the male-female dynamics, domination and submission. She is also interested in the thin line that exists between fear and desire, and how closely they are interrelated.
Her subjects live on their impulses in alluring, exotic landscapes. They are ambiguous with their relationship to power, violence, sensuality and each other. Wildlife and animals are an integral part of her practice, and her subjects are often depicted within the same plane as the flora and fauna. Her work consists of paintings, embroideries, tapestries, and sculptures.
BIOGRAPHY
Born 1979 in Tehran, Iran
Lives and works in Brussels, Belgium
Solo Exhibitions
2022
In my dreams, I kill him every night, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brazil
2021
Lemon Drizzle, Groeninge Museum, Bruges, Belgium
2020
Cyanide, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Cruelest of the seas, Kunsthal Gent, Ghent, Belgium
2019
An hour before the Devil fell, P.P.O.W, New York, NY USA
De ta salive qui mord, BPS22, Charleroi, Belgium
The Murders of the Green River, rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
2018
Wild Mink, Artlead Salon, Brussels, Belgium
2017
Rivers in your mouth, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, Belgium
With tendresse and longing, Billboard Series #6: Art in Public Space, Artlead, Gent, Belgium
No Church in the wild, The Cabin LA, Los Angeles CA, USA
2016
Le jardin décomposé, Super Dakota, Brussels, Belgium
The hollow in the ferns, NICC Vitrine, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Ask me nicely, trampoline, Antwerp, Belgium
2014
Séduire ou crever de faim, Island, Brussels, Belgium
Group Exhibitions
2022
Schurend Paradijs, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands
2021
Modern Love (or Love in the Age of Cold Intimacies), Centraal Museum Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
One way or another—10 jaar Posture Editions, SMAK, Ghent, Belgium
Paradise, The Triennial of Kortrijk, Kortrijk, Belgium
Beyond the Looking Glass, Curated by Zuzanna Ciolek, UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills, CA USA
2020
Der abscheuliche Kuss, Kunstverein Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Tears of Eros, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2019
The Seventh Continent, 16th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, Istanbul, Turkey
Some Trees, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA USA
Le Salon, M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium
2018
Terres de Femmes, Praz-Delavallade, Paris, France
We attack at nightfall, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, Belgium
Op de grond, tussenin of aan de hemel, Curated by Els Wuyts, Ten Bogaerde, Coxyde, Belgium
100 Sculptures, Curated by Todd Von Ammon & Josep Ian Henrikson, Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
Mademoiselle, CRAC Occitane, Sète, France
SEED, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY USA
Dead Eden, Lyles & King, New York, NY USA
What are you staring at?, curated by Domenico De Chirico, Eduardo Secci, Florence, Italy
Quel amour !?, MAC, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille, France
20 YEARS NICC - JUBILEE - A works, NICC, Antwerp, Belgium
Weeping, Dreaming, Fucking, Laughing, Wschód Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
2017
Listening To The Form, Panthera, Brussels, Belgium
Hecate, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA USA
Dalonaz, Royal, Brussels, Belgium
2016
Summer in the City, Christine König Gallery, Vienna, Austria
Biennial of Painting, Museum of Deinze, Deinze, Belgium
Balls & Glory, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Louise186, Brussels Art Days, Brussels, Belgium
Me, Myself and I, trampoline, Antwerp, Belgium
Palourdes cuites, Christopher Crescent, Brussels, Belgium
Every day I’m..., Harlan Levey, Brussels, Belgium
2014
The Penthouse Art Event, Harlan Levey Projects, Bloom Hotel, Brussels, Belgium
2013
Thalie Art Project (curated by Emmanuel Lambion and Nathalie Guiot), Brussels, Belgium
2012
The Antagonist, Waterside Contemporary, London, UK
Collections
Musée d’Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
BPS22, Charleroi, Belgium
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Belfius Art Collection, Belgium
Province du Hainaut, Belgium
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada