In October 2025, during Art Basel week in Paris, Soraya Sharghi presented "Sculpture and Painting" at 24 Avenue Matignon. The show gathered recent bronze, ceramic and painting works in a single immersive space and included hybrid figures and hand-shaped ceramic guardians. One painting in the show was "Rising with the Song of Nymphs" (2022). Sharghi framed myth and memory as languages of survival and rebirth.
Born in Tehran and based in New York, Sharghi studied at the San Francisco Art Institute. As a child she made stories for her younger sister, and she says imagination was a refuge while growing up in Iran. She has called surrealism a way of surviving reality.
Sharghi works across materials because each medium offers a different language. Clay taught her patience, and she often layers glazes like pigments, almost painting with fire.
Difficult words
- immersive — making people feel that they are inside
- hybrid — made of two different parts or types
- guardian — a person or thing that protects someoneguardians
- myth — a traditional story about gods or heroes
- rebirth — a new life or a new start
- surrealism — an art style with strange dreamlike images
- glaze — a thin shiny layer on potteryglazes
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Do you think imagination can be a refuge? Why or why not?
- Which material from the article would you like to try? Why?
- What does patience mean for you when making art?
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