BIOGRAPHY:
Sanaz Mazinani is an artist, curator, and educator based in San Francisco and Toronto. Born in Tehran, Iran, she holds her undergraduate degree from Ontario College of Art & Design University and her MFA from Stanford University. Mazinani’s work explores the relationship between perception and representation by drawing on concepts such as censorship, scale, and the body as a site of action or violence. Working primarily in photography and large-scale photo-based installations, her practice intersects conceptual and formal boundaries of the photographic image in response to site, sight and insight, especially in relation to digital culture.
She co-edited ALMANAC: An Index of Current Work and Thought a collaborative publication addressing the relationship between theory and practice (Stanford University, 2010). She was the 2011 Visual Arts Curator for the Iranian Canadian Centre for Art & Culture’s interdisciplinary arts triennial, Tirgan. Most recently she was Guest Curator at Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University where she curated Edward Weston: On Light, Line, and Form.
Mazinani’s work has been exhibited throughout North America including solo exhibits at Toronto Image Works Gallery, Carnegie Gallery, and Art & Architecture Library at Stanford University. She has received numerous grants from Ontario Arts Council and Toronto Arts Council for the production and exhibition of her projects. Mazinani’s artwork has been written about in Border Crossings, Nuva Luz, NOW Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and Dide.
EDUCATION:
- 2011
- Stanford University, USA: MFA Studio Practice
- 2003
- Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, Ontario: AOCAD
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
- 2013
- Sight, Site, and Insight, Gallery 44 Center for Contemporary Photography (forthcoming)
- 2012
- Frames of the Visible, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto
- 2011
- Book Case, Art & Architecture Library, Stanford University
- 2009
- Iran Revisited, Toronto Image Works Gallery
- 2008
- Book Case, Camera, Toronto
- 2006
- Book Case, project room, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto
- Book Case, Carnegie Gallery, Hamilton
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
- 2012
- Public: Collective Identity | Occupied Space, University of Toronto Art Center, Toronto, ON
In the Currents, Asian Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
Spring/Break, Art Show, Old School, New York City
Wartime Revival of the Senses, Rock Paper Scissors Collective, Oakland, California
2011- Migrant Manifesto, Immigrant Movement International, Creative Time, and Queens Museum of Art, Queens , New York
STATUS! STATUS! STATUS!, Interstate Projects, Brooklyn, New York
Scramble, Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University
Sincerely Yours, Baer Ridgway Exhibition, San Francisco
- 2010
- Do You See What I Mean?, X Ottawa Photography Festival and Culture Days, Canada
- Hogar dulce Hogar fotografia & entorno domestico, Cantón Exposición, Guatemala
- Picturing Power & Potential, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, City Hall
- Public Lives, Private Spaces, Alphonse Berber Gallery, Berkeley
- Celebration, AIPAD Photography Show, The Armory, New York City
- Roll Call, SF Camerawork, San Francisco
- Devil-May-Care, Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University
- 2009
- DIASPORArt, Canada Council Art Bank, Rideau Hall, Ottawa
- Fly with the Cage, Lennox Gallery, Toronto
- Fly with the Cage, The Queen Gallery, Toronto
- Here and Now, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
- Here or There, List Gallery, Toronto
- 2008
- Contact Photography Festival Survey, espace, New York
- Review, Contact Photography Festival, Red Bull Gallery
- 2007
- AIPAD Photography Show, The Armory, New York, NY
- A Show of Faith, Olive Gallery, Toronto
- Nuit Blanche, 401 Richmond Building, Toronto
- Women's Collective Show, Transit Space, Toronto
- 2006
- PhotoMiami: International Contemporary Art Fair, SOHO Building, Miami
- AIPAD: The Photography Show, The Armory, New York City
- 2005
- Bibliotheca, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto
- 2003
- Alternative Means, University College, University of Toronto
- Surface in Depth, Tolmie Gallery, Toronto
- Kyü, Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto
- 2002
- The Destro(yers), Art System, Toronto
- Sell or Die, Art System, Toronto
- Reviewing Quebec, blah, blah, blah Collective, Innis College, Toronto
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS:
- Canada Council Art Bank
- Tabrizi Law Office PC
- Parya Trillium Foundation
- MetScan Canada
- Marsia Foods Inc
- TAIM Canada Inc
- NuVision Canada
- Various Private Collections
- Connor, Clark & Lunn Financial Group
SELECTED REVIEWS / PUBLICATIONS:
- 2012
- Sanaz Mazinani: Unfolding Images, Barber, Fresko, Mirzaei, Bulger Gallery Press. ISBN: 978-0-9688383-4-1
- 2011
- Book Case, in ReMix: The Stanford University Libraries Newsletter 42 (2011).
JD Beltran, Artists Who Won’t Have to Scramble: The 2011 Stanford University MFA Exhibition, SFGate, June 11, 2011.
George Philip LeBourdais, Sanaz Mazinani and the Blossoming of the Twenty First Century Geographic Eye, in Scramble Exhibition Catalogue. (Stanford: Stanford University, 2011).
David Fresko, Frames of the Visible, in Scramble Exhibition catalogue. (Stanford University, 2011).
Sanaz Mazinani, Image War Image. A Mediation on the Contemporary Photographic Essay, in ALMANAC: An Index of Current Work and
Thought, (Stanford: Stanford University, 2010). ISBN: 978-0-9827694-2-3 - 2010
- San Francisco Chronicle, Don't miss: Private Lives, Public Spaces, Mary Eisenhart, April 8, 2010
- Dide, Iran Revisited, Mohammadreza Mirzaei, Online Photography Magazine (English & Farsi)
- 2009
- National Post, Process of development, Leah Sandals, Arts, April 30, 2009
- Now Magazine, Mazinani Amazes, Fran Schechter, May 6-13, 2009 Vol 28 No 36
- 2008
- Nueva Luz photographic journal, Darius Himes, Here Am I Reflections on Race and the Golden Rule, Volume 13, no.2 Issue No. 108
- 2006
- Flash Forward: Emerging Photographers 2006, Book, Published by The Magenta Foundation
- 2005
- The Globe and Mail, Gary Michael Dault, A Case for Books and Gigantic Ideas, Page R15
GRANTS / AWARDS:
- 2010
- James Williams Borrelli Fellowship in Art, Stanford University
- Robert G. Mondavi Fellowship, Stanford University
- Ellie and John Stern Fellowship, Stanford University
- Suzanne Baruch Lewis MFA Grant, Stanford University
- 2009
- The E. Eric and Elizabeth D. Johnson Fellowship in Studio Art, Stanford University
- The Charles H. Land Family Fellowship in Art, Stanford University
- The Lillie Webster Squires Memorial Fellowship in Studio Art, Stanford University
- Stanford University Art Department Travel Grant
- Ontario Art Council, Exhibition Assistance Grant
- Ontario Arts Council Grant
- 2006
- Toronto Arts Council Grant
- 2005
- Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council Grant, SAVAC
- 2003
- Toronto Image Works, Award
SELECTED CURATION:
- 2011
- Guest Curator, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Edward Weston: On Light, Line, and Form
- Curator of Visual Arts, Eternity, Tirgan, Toronto Iranian Triennial of Arts & Culture, Harbourfront Center, Toronto
- Curator, Camera Work: From Landscape to Cityscape, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts, Stanford University
- 2010
- Co-Curator, Surealism and the Body, Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for the Visual Arts
- 2009
- Curator, Off World, Mateo Guez/Andrew Mallis, Camera, Toronto
SELECTED RELATED EXPERIENCE:
- 2011
- Instructor, Fakes, Fictions, and Drama: The Constructed Image Staged and Imagined, Stanford University
- Instructor, Digital Street: Photography on the Fly, Stanford University Musuem
- 2010
- Editor, ALMANAC: An Index of Current Work and Thought, Book (ISBN: 978-0-9827694-2-3)
- 2009
- Jury Member, Hart House Camera Club, University of Toronto (volunteer)
- Curatorial Committee, Exposed, Double Exposure, Palais Royale (volunteer)
- 2003-09
- Director (2007-2009), Stephen Bulger Gallery, Manager (2005-2007), Assitant (2003-2005)
- 2008
- Editor, The Death of Photography, Bulger Gallery Press, Book (ISBN: 978-0-968838-2-7)
- Board of Directors, Art & Design District, West Queen West BIA (volunteer)
- Chair, Urban Development Committee, Art & Design District, Toronto (volunteer)
- Jury Member, Art Crawl Exhibition
- Educational Programmer, CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival
- 2007
- Educational Committee, Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography (volunteer)
- Jury Member, University of Guelph, Photography Awards & Scholarships (volunteer)
- Programmer (Film & Video), CAMERA
- 2006
- Programming Coordinator, CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival
REPRESENTATION:
- STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY, Toronto
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