ELHAM ETEMADI

Iranian-French Contemporary Artist Elham Etemadi (b. 1983, Shiraz, Iran) is an Iranian-French contemporary artist based in the Paris region. She holds a PhD in Plastic Arts from the University of Strasbourg (2018) and studied painting at the Tehran University of Art. Living between Iran and France has shaped her exploration of identity, otherness, cultural memory, and transformation. Through vibrant, dreamlike paintings, Etemadi brings together human figures, animals, plants, toys, and ornamental motifs. Drawing on childhood memories, Iranian visual traditions, and the symbolism of dreams, she creates intricate compositions where forms overlap and identities remain fluid. With vivid colours, fluid lines, and layered surfaces, her work explores the boundaries between the familiar and the unfamiliar, human and non-human life, and the many ways we inhabit a shared world.

For Etemadi, painting is a space of invention where new relationships between forms and beings emerge. Balancing intuition and structure, spontaneity and harmony, her compositions create open-ended visual narratives that invite reflection on identity, memory, and existence. Her work has been presented at international art fairs, including Abu Dhabi Art, MENART FAIR, AKAA, Asia NOW, Contemporary Istanbul, Lille Art Up, Art Montpellier, VOLTA Basel, London Art Fair, and St’Art, as well as fairs in Le Touquet and Athens. She has participated in solo and group exhibitions across Europe, the Middle East, and North America, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Iran, Dubai, the United States, and Canada. Through these encounters, her practice fosters dialogue between cultures, visual traditions, and contemporary art.