Ania Sabet

I am a London based British/Iranian artist born in the UK in 1972. I grew up in Iran during the 1978 revolution and the 8 year Iran/Iraq war when in the midst of chaos, instability, survival, and rations, pursuing a career in art seemed a distant prospect.

When I was 17 I moved to London. Motivated by my experiences, I trained as a medical doctor at Imperial College and I currently work part time in the emergency department of St Thomas’ Hospital. I have a deep interest in psychology and that is reflected in my work.

My dedication to the creative arts began with painting in 2014, sculpture in 2016, and the moving image in 2017. Now I combine all of these media and experiences in my current work.

Education

MBBS Imperial College School of Medicine 2002

nMRCGP Oxford Deanery 2011

Filmmaking Makhmalbaf Film Academy 2017

Diploma Sculpture Heatherlys School of Fine Art 2018

Psychology London School of Psychology 2019

Diploma Acting Makhmalbaf Film Academy 2020

MA Sculpture Royal College of Art 2021

Prizes

Heatherly Sculpture Prize 2018

FBA Futures (Federation of British Artists) Award 2019

Psychoanalysis and the visualisation of the subconscious is my current preoccupation, and I use autobiographical experiences as a means of story-telling and communicating with my viewers. My childhood experiences of war and revolution as an impoverished refugee, have led me to view the certainties in life as uncertain, and I search for the underlying psychological root of what I see.

At the beginning of the series of Covid lockdowns, the supermarkets were empty, the economy appeared to be collapsing, and people were confused and disconcerted. These events reminded me of the days of my childhood experiences. Life and everything it contains, seems to be in a constant state of metamorphosis. This makes me explore the surreal nature of the reality that we think we live in.

I work spontaneously. My work is made with a triad of the feelings of material at hand, atmospheric influences and how they affect my state of mind at the time of creation. I find it very important for me to clear my mind of any conscious thinking so images can be drawn from the only other source available, the unconscious.

I find drawing and making collages important for generating ideas. My subjects revolve around a set of bodily motifs which then repeat in different mediums and are reinvented in different context. These then evolve into sculptures and installations that operate both indoor and outdoor.

Convoluted Realities

This installation is a work in progress and will be shown at the RCA 2021 physical show on from 23-27 June at 4 Cromwell place.

This work is based on a drawing shown below under the same name.

Medium:

Plaster of paris, glazed ceramic, wood, metal, textile, paint, light, vapour, feather

Size:

285 x 174 x 117cm

Installation proposal for 48 Brook street in London — This installation design is drawn from my collages and sculptures relating to the subject of metamorphoses and identity.

There are no calories in kisses — The global pandemic has meant loss of touch and hidden lips for over a year, which has made us acutely aware of just how vital, powerful, expressive and seductive they can be. Now a days taking ones mask off can be like undressing. I came up with the provocative quote "There are no calories in kisses" to celebrates the healing powers we posses and to invite the viewers to reconnect. — Medium: Neon light mounted on wooden frame — Size: 120 x 170cm

View of the preparatory work from my studio

Silence Lips — Are they smiling, indifferent, making a gesture or trying to say something...or perhaps they are inviting you to initiate... — Medium: polystyrene, Jesmonite, metal, paint, varnish — Size: 78 x 65 x 200 cm

Standing Tall — Medium: Ball point pen on paper — Size: 20 x 13 cm

Preparatory work in my studio for The window display @48 Brook Street — Based on a drawing which was first translated to a clay moquette and then enlarged. The concept of the body parts are a series of work I produced after a traumatic life event left me feeling dissociated and broken. After years of studying psychology I managed to find answers by psychoanalysing myself and others. This was a tremendously difficult journey but I Morphed me into a new identity which was now content. — Medium: polystyrene, Jesmonite, paint, varnish. — Size: 173 x 154 x 70 cm

Morphed — Drawing for the breast sculpture. — Medium: Pan on paper — Size: 25 x 19 cm

Work in progress: Self portrait — This work is based on the eye collage. The eye sculpture will be assembled on the legs precariously trying to balance and move forward. This work will be on display on the balcony of 48 Brook Street, London from 25 Jun e to 11 July 2021. Medium: Marine ply, Plaster: Jesmonite, foam, Paint, metal — Size: 217 x 60 x 50 cm

I was asked by Illuminate productions to design an installation on the facade of the building and the window display at #48 Brook street (London) for the 2021 Mayfair Art Weekend. The work will be on display from 25 June-11 July 2021.

This work is based on a recent emotional journey which started with a significant traumatic event leaving me initially feeling disintegrated, broken and fragmented. Through studying psychology and psychoanalysis of myself and others I managed to swim my way of being sucked by a whirlwind of shock, worry and unanswered questions into a tropical paradise.

I am now also much more aware of the subtle powerful tools we possess. They are free and harmless if used at the right time on the right person. A hand shake, a hug, a smile, a kind gesture...or a kiss...I will leave you to think of more.

https://www.illuminateproductions.co.uk/there-are-no-calories-in-kisses

Size:

A house

covid Emotional Journey Fragmented identity happiness Identity And Body Light Installation Mental Health Metamorphosis Psychology Sculpture Transformation Urban Space Installation

Finding happiness — Medium: Oil on canvas — Size: 76 x 51 cm

The Fall — Medium: Oil on canvas — Size: 76 x 101 cm

Clearly Unknown — Medium: Oil on canvas — Size: 45 x 40 cm

Highgate — Medium: Oil on canvas — Size: 55.5 x 71 cm

A tale of regressions and progressions

This is a series of 4 out of 6 autobiographical paintings that I am making in response to a traumatic event. The process of painting is spontaneous and pre-planned, so much so that when I started drawing I have no idea what the end result is going to be. I use techniques to divert my mind from conscious thinking so the only source of inspiration and imagery is then the subconscious. The result is always beyond my control and surprises me every time.

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Autobiography Colourful Drawing Feminism Memory Fragment Narration / Storytelling Oil Painting paintings Psychology self reflection Symbolism trauma

Self portrait — Medium: Clay sculpture — Size: 27 x 12 x 5 cm

Standing Tall — Medium: Painted clay sculpture — Size: 25 x 20 x 7 cm

Rejoined — Medium: Plaster, Wood, Light, Vapour — Size: 63 x 44 x 28 cm

Darya-kenar — Work done for a project regarding urbanisation and buildings. — The design is based on a villa I used to live in, in north of Iran by Caspian sea. I loved this place and used to speak to the house as a child. A frolic on a summer's day: I saw a huge wave in the sea today. It was so tall that when it hit the shore it made a laud noise and broke into a million little bubbles. I was going to bring you some, but when I chased the bubbles they all disappeared into the sand. I wish you were there to see it. Tomorrow I will take my bucket and will bring you back a small wave.

These sculptures were made from a series of drawings from the fractures self series.

Medium:

Clay, plaster, Jesmonite

Autobiography Body and Space Ceramic Sculpture Ceramic Sculptures fragility Fragmented identity Home Identity And Body Memory Fragment Sculpture selfportrait Surreal

Convoluted realities silk print — Medium: Printed textile (Silk) — Size: 187 x 132 cm

Blue Lip — Medium: Polystyrene, Textile, Ladder, LED light — Size: 235 x 138 x 68

Based on Convoluted Realities drawing. The drawing was reversed, colour adjusted and printed on silk. I am planning to do the same with the rest of my drawings published under the drawing section below.

black and white Existence Existentialism filmography Memories Moving image Narration / Storytelling Sculpture selfportrait short film Short Story Surreal

Convoluted Realities — A drawing made in a seminar about the environment and human destruction of it. During this we were shown footage of one of the largest collections of rare bird's eggs which is illegal in the UK. The judge ordered for the eggs to be destroyed as it was felt that would glorify the defendant. — Size: 25 x 19 cm

Figuring the unfigurable — Size: 25 x 19 cm

Speculative routes to existence — Size: 25 x 19 cm

The structure of feeling — The drawing was made during a seminar with Andy Holden about his exhibition called "What the structure of feeling might be". — Size: 22 x 19 cm

Zal — Size: 30 x 22 cm

In search of meaning — Size: 25 x 19 cm

I made a series of drawing during various lectures and seminars, while emptying my mind of any preoccupations and allowing myself to be completely immersed in the environment and nowness.

I intend to make these drawings into 3D works and use them for prints on textile and wall papers.

Medium:

Ball point pen on paper

Black-and-white Chess Drawings Dreams Fantasy And The Surreal Invisible Connections psychology of space reality Subconscious

Portrait of a Room — 45 x 30 cm

In Conversation With a Room — 45 x 30

Daricheh — 45 x 30 cm

Self Portrait 2 — 45 x 30 cm

Buildings and their interiors are important to me. The environments we live in is very important in our mental and physical health and well being. This is a series of collages made in response to my relationship with buildings and their interiors. I would divide these into self portraits and the portrait of an interior.

I feel every object, not just living creatures, has a soul and a personality. When we enter a house we encounter another being with its own distinct personality which might like us or not, just like when we meet another human. I feel our conduct and degree of care towards the building while we reside in it is strongly related to how we might feel within the boundaries of that space.

Medium:

Magazine cuttings on paper

Size:

45 x 30 cm

3D Animation animation Autobiography Ceramic Sculptures Fantasy And The Surreal imagination Memory Fragment Moving image night adventure selfportrait stop motion surrealism

(Work in progress)

Made spontaneously using clay sculptures with the stop motion animation technique, and without a pre prepared scenario. In this stop motion animation I used the clay sculptures I had made to create the adventures of Persipo who in his explorations comes across a series of unusual events, some based on true stories.

Credits:

Piano Composer: Gary Cheung

Edit: Arash Ashtiyani

Medium:

Clay sculpture, Lighting

Size:

02:05 minutes

3D Animation animation Autobiography Ceramic Sculptures Fantasy And The Surreal imagination Memory Fragment Moving image night adventure selfportrait stop motion surrealism

Terra Incognito — A short video portraying human's destruction of environment.

Fish Eye

I turned into the digital world during the lock downs as I had no access to a studio space. I made a series of short videos, using stills from my animation, drawings, photographs, with some merely portraying the feelings of a space and some with a narrative. I have included 2 of those above.

Going through a difficult time in life a woman decides she has had enough of it all and is no longer able to go on. She wakes up one day and starts walking to her death. Her positive self follows to remind her of all the good reasons why life is beautiful. Right at the last moment she stops.

But was this all real or was it just a dream? How about everything else in life?

Scenario: Ania Sabet

Actor1: Ania Sabet

Actor2: Gelareh Amiri

Camera: Preston Lotfi

Edit: Preston Lotfi, Ania Sabet

Producer: Ania Sabet

Co-Directors: Farhad Vilkiji, Ania Sabet

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Film

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03:06 minutes

Ania Sabet

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Royal College of Art

Ania Sabet

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