Soheila Sokhanvari, an Iranian-born artist, has created intricate miniatures that pay tribute to Iranian cultural icons who have been erased from history. Her work, recognised with the 2026 David and Yuko Juda Art Foundation award, explores the theme of exile and the impact of the 1979 Iranian revolution on the lives of women. Sokhanvari's art is characterised by delicate egg tempera paintings on calf vellum, often featuring women who were once prominent in Iranian cinema and music.
Born in Shiraz, southwestern Iran, in 1964, Sokhanvari moved to Britain at the age of 14, shortly before the revolution. Her experiences of separation from her family and homeland have influenced her work, which often incorporates elements of Persian miniature painting. Sokhanvari's portraits require the viewer to engage closely, drawing attention to the women's faces and the stories they tell. Her subjects include Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi and actresses Zhaleh Olov, Zari Khoshkam, and Farzaneh Taidi.
Sokhanvari's work often combines family memory and public history. In 2022, she showcased 28 miniature portraits in her Barbican installation, Rebel Rebel, which highlighted the stories of Iranian women who resisted oppression across generations. The portraits, displayed together, resembled precious illuminations, but their beauty offered no refuge from the violence and erasure faced by these women. Each subject carries a unique story of visibility, courage, and loss, revealing the various forms that erasure can take.
Roohangiz Saminejad, the first female star of a Persian-language talkie, was one of the women featured in Sokhanvari's work. Saminejad faced death threats and anonymity after her first movie, Lor Girl, was released in 1933, featuring an unveiled woman dancing on screen. Sokhanvari's portrait of Saminejad is rendered in stark monochrome, drawing attention to the woman's unveiled face and the suffering she endured. Saminejad's story serves as a reminder that the danger of being seen did not begin with the revolution but was amplified by it.
Parvin Kheirbakhsh, known as Forouzan, was another prominent Iranian film star who faced imprisonment and erasure after the revolution. Sokhanvari's portrait, Hey, Baby I’m a Star, speaks to the reversal of a woman once recognised everywhere becoming a stranger to history. The artist's work also features Kobra Amin Saeedi, known as Shahrzad, a dancer, actor, poet, journalist, and pioneering filmmaker who was imprisoned, subjected to electric shock therapy, and eventually became homeless, dying in 2025.
Sokhanvari's creative process often involves painstaking research and recreation. For her portrait of Shahrzad, she studied grainy photographs and posed as the subject herself, using her own body to imagine the commanding posture that the damaged archive could no longer provide. This approach allowed Sokhanvari to restore the self-possession that was stripped away from Shahrzad. The artist's portraits not only honour these women but also refuse to let us forget their stories.
Sokhanvari's work also features Googoosh, Iran's most famous singer, who was forced into silence for 21 years after the revolution. Sokhanvari's portrait, The Love Addict, represents two times: the star preserved in the artist's childhood and the older woman who endured years of silence. The painting holds these two moments together, with Googoosh's face and hands rendered in ghostly grey, surrounded by an intensely coloured world.
Key points
- Soheila Sokhanvari's miniatures memorialise Iranian cultural icons erased from history
- Her work explores the theme of exile and the impact of the 1979 Iranian revolution on women's lives
- Sokhanvari's portraits honour women such as Empress Farah Diba Pahlavi, actresses Zhaleh Olov, Zari Khoshkam, and Farzaneh Taidi, and singer Googoosh
