PARIMAH AVANI
Parimah Avani is a nomadic Iranian-born artist and writer based in Toronto and Turin. Holding a PhD in Contemporary Art History from Sapienza University of Rome (Summa Cum Laude), she is recognized as a key voice in Persian Hermetic literature. Her work challenges oppressive hierarchical systems through decolonial, biomimetic, and ecological approaches, engaging with questions of more-than-human justice. By unveiling erased histories and hidden stories, Avani employs transparency as a radical strategy to make the invisible visible, positioning the "rebellious dynamic of defiance" as a site of posthuman resistance.
Avani’s practice has been exhibited across Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. She has received numerous international honors, including a fellowship at Werkstatt Plettenberg, Germany. Her visual and literary contributions are featured in prestigious publications, such as Art Africa, BDK INFO (Germany), and the Encyclopaedia Iranica (USA). Her works are held in permanent collections of Municipal City of Plettenberg (Germany), MAVO Archaeological Museum (Italy), and Initiatives of Change (USA). She is the Founder and President of Cartographies of Flux, a transcultural NFP arts organization in Canada.
Born in Tehran, IR
Based in Toronto, CA and Turin, IT
EDUCATION
2019, PhD in History of Contemporary Art, Sapienza University, Rome, IT
2014, Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Fine Art Academy, Rome, IT
2011, BA in Performing Arts and Multimedia Art, Roma Tre University, Rome, IT
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025, A Cedar Letter, Snail Slow Culture, Manitoulin Eco Park, Manitoulin Island, CA
2024, Fragments of Resistance, Archeological Museum, Livorno Ferraris, IT
2024, Weight of Waters, Decolonization of Mundi Festival, Biblioteca Universitaria, Genova, IT
2023, Heroine’s Journey, Werkstatt Plettenberg, The Sparkasse, Plettenberg, DE
2022, Calligraphy of Body, Luoghi Comuni di Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Turin, IT
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES
2025, Absent Matter(s), New Futures, August House, Johannesburg, SA
2025, VAZIOsobreTERRA, MABE BELÉM Art Museum, Belém, BR
2025, The Earth Day, We Collective Art, OSA, Ottawa, CA
2025, Aus Blick Gesten, Werkstatt Plettenberg, The Municipal Hall, Plettenberg, DE
2025, All Dressed Up, DODO Gallery, Brighton, UK
2025, Farewell, UKAI, Toronto, CA
2025, Grandma’s Verandah, Brief Shalimar, Spéos International Photography School, Paris, FR
2025, Berlin-Sydney, Local Edition, Sydney, AU
2024, Underlands, Web, Haus der Statistik, Berlin, DE
2024, Against Violence, We, Outpost Gallery, Norwich, UK
2024, Identity, The Cut, Halesworth, UK
2024, No Direction Home, Loop, Euboea Island, GR
2024, Mycelium, La Nature Festival, Liege, BE
2024, WE, Menningarhus, Reykjavik, IS
2023, Fluida, Festival Non Una di Meno, Cuneo, IT
2023, Das kleine Wunder, Galerie. Pla.d, Düsseldorf, DE
2023, The Image of Night, Kunstarkaden, Munich, DE
2023, Rage Against Dying of Light, Theatre and Cinema Maffei, Turin, IT
SELECTED GRANTS / AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
2025, Initiative of Change (selected), Art Residency, Johannesburg, SA
2025, Snail Slow Culture (selected), Art Residency, Manitoulin Eco Park, Manitoulin Island, CA
2025, OSA (selected), Art Residency, Ottawa, CA
2024, Loop (selected), Art Residency, Euboea Island, GR
2024, The Cut (selected), Art Residency, Halesworth, UK
2024, La Nature Festival (selected), Art Residency, Liege, BE
2024, Web Decolonial Art (selected), Art Residency, Berlin, DE
2023, Werkstatt (winner), Scholarship and Art Residency, Plettenberg, DE
2021, Shamlu Award (finalist), Contemporary Literature Award, Tehran, IR
2019, Sapienza University Mobility Research (winner), Grant and Scholarship, Rome, IT
2017, Torno Subito Scholarship (winner), Scholarship, Rome, IT
2011, Premio di Laurea Ladziodisu (honorable and winner), Award, Rome, IT
SELECTED BOOK PUBLICATIONS
2026, Davis, N. The Future Present, Loophole Projects, Rhyl, UK
2025, Avani, P. Aus Blick Gesten 2.0, Werkstatt Plettenberg Catalog 2005–2025, Plettenberg, DE
2025, Avani, P. Obaldi, Revolver, Coll., Rome, IT
2025, Liu, G. Peace Echo War Story, Peace Echo, Toronto, CA
2024, Farhud, N. Bidad Muryaneha, Salineh, Tehran, IR
2023, Chabak, M. Hermetic Poetry, Siahrud, Tehran, IR
2020, Avani, P. The Magic Scroll of Antalus, Afraz, Tehran, IR
2012, Avani, P. Remote Revolt, Gusheh, Tehran, IR
2010, Avani, P. Decomposed Rambling, Tapeshe Noe, Tehran, IR
SELECTED PRESS PUBLICATIONS
2025, Bell-Roberts, B. New Futures, Art Africa, Issue 26, SA
2025, Chabak, M. Iranian Women’s Hermetic Poetry, Iranica, USA
2025, AVANI, P. Ogin Talka, Utsanga, no. 42, IT
2024, Pavan, B. Interview, fili e forme, 28 May, IT
2024, Avani, P. My Daughter Lamp, Carbone, no. 6765, November, Turin, IT
2024, Avani, P. Butler, Neveshta, no. 60, October, Tehran, IR
2024, Avani, P. The Path, Carbone, no. 4181, April, Turin, IT
2024, Avani, P. Alphabet of Freedom, Neutopia, no. XVII, March, Turin, IT
2023, Chlutter, B. Heroine’s Journey, Lokal Direkt, 19 October, Plettenberg, DE
2023, Opfermann, J. Mythische Reise, Plettenberg Samstag, 14 October, Plettenberg, DE
2023, Opfermann, J. Interview, Plettenberg Samstag, 5 August, Plettenberg, DE
2023, Damschen, H. Mut und Klarheit, Plettenberg Samstag, 27 June, Plettenberg, DE
2023, Avani, P. Viva Khoresht, Neutopia, no. XII, Spring, Turin, IT
2022, Avani, P. The Breath, Jenzar, no. 6, Tehran, IR
2021, Avani, P. Thus No Spring, Avangardha, no. 12, Tehran, IR
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Municipal City, Plettenberg, DE, The Municipal City, Livorno Ferraris, IT, Archeological Museum, Livorno Ferraris, IT, Mamre Psycho-anthropology Fondation, Turin, IT, Initiatives of Change, New Futures Collaborative, Virginia, USA, The Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, CA
My works, following a nomadic path, challenge power structures in dominant narratives, political erasure, and oppression. I connect the memory of materials to the identities of places through decolonial approaches by biomimetic and ecological methods.
Transparency is a key in my practice, making the invisible visible by referring to hidden narratives, politics of gender and environmental erasures.
Inspired by primordial and cave drawings, my pieces feature rebellious gestural entities, a constructed visual lexicon of archaic and codified glyphs, to manifest human and more-than-human beings’ active force of defiance and revolutionary impulse.
Drawn from the agency of lived experiences across gendered and racial apartheids in Iran, Europe, and North America, my works question the inherited boundaries between visibility and invisibility. They embody a form of transformative resistance akin to alchemy: here, ephemeral and sensorial substances—soil, seeds, and plant powders—alongside transparent gauze activate the urgency of repair to make space for emerging counter-narratives.
My figures highlight how the body becomes a battlefield, a golden source of sacrifice, and a silver font of resistance, honoring coexistence and posthuman resistance.