Azadeh Gholizadeh, is a Chicago-based artist and architect. Born in Tehran, Gholizadeh received her BA in architecture from Shahid Behest University (SBU), MA in architecture from Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) in 2009, and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012.
Her work questions how she can transform her discomfort of border crossing and lack of geographical identity into a tool to attain intellectual freedom and a broader understanding of culture, identity and home. It is a response to past experiences translated into a new social environment. Defining boundaries and blurring the lines that demark her geographical identity are the subjects that she reflect in her practice.
Gholizadeh was a resident at the BOLT Residency Program in 2012-13 at the Chicago Artists Coalition and at the Center Program in 2016 at Hyde Park Art Center. She was the 2017 recipient of a Brenda Green Gender Inclusivity Scholarship for participation in the ACRE Residency program. She was also a finalist for the 2020 Chicago Artadia Award, 2020 American Muslim Futures Award and 2021 Hopper Prize.
Solo exhibitions include: Dawn to Dusk at Goldfinch; Oh, Swallow where do you live in Winter? at Apparatus Projects; and Within the Threshold at Chicago Artist Coalition’s Bolt Space. Group exhibitions include: Ten x Ten at Homeroom in Collaboration with Chicago Composers Orchestra; “Between Land and Sky: Azadeh Gholizadeh, Luis Romero, and Soo Shin” at Everybody Gallery; “Outliers” at the Franklin; “Transistors” at Ralph Arnold Gallery; “After Junkspace” at the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; “This is the place,” at ACRE; and “Artificial Life,” at the Chicago Artist Coalition.
Image: Azadeh Gholizadeh, Acclimated Bodies, 2016, cardboard, plaster, balsa wood, plaster, cardboard, other artist's scraps.
(Updated 2022)
HATCH Projects
BOLT Residency
