Sara Abbaspour (born in Mashhad, Iran) is an Iranian Artist who lives and works between the U.S. and Iran. She holds an MFA in Photography from Yale School of Art, an MA in Photography from University of Tehran, and a B.Sc. in Urban Planning and Design from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Sara is primarily interested in making visual poetry using portraiture and landscape. She has photographically reflected on the urban public sphere vs. private realms and interiors vs. exteriors as mental spaces. Exploring the notion of psychogeography, her works exist in between the imagined and the experienced in the current socio-political climate. Abbaspur is the recipent of the first prize for 2024 Women Photographers Grant awarded by the PhMuseum’s 2024, The 2024 CENTER Santa Fe’s Project Development Grant, and her work was shortlisted for the Aperture Portfolio Prize 2025. Her works are represented in permanent collections of MoMA (NY) and The Lumberroom (OR).
Sara.abbaspour.art @ gmail.com
Sara Abbaspour (CV)
Currently based in New Mexico
Education
2019 MFA Photography, Yale University School of Art, New Haven, CT
2016 MA in Photography, Department of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran
2013 B.Sc. in Urban Planning Department of Architecture and Urban Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
Awards
2025 - Shortlisted for the Aperture Foundation Portfolio Prize
- CSR Grant, University of New Mexico, NM
2024 - First prize for the PhMuseum 2024 Women Photographers Grant, Bologna, Italy
- Project Development Grant, CENTER Santa Fe, NM
- Research Allocation Committee Grant, University of New Mexico, NM
- SEED Grant, University of New Mexico, NM
- Juror’s Choice Award, Context 2024, Chicago, IL
Selected Exhibitions
2025 - Webs of Significance, Group Exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Appalachian State University,
Boone, NC
- AIPAD Photography Show 2025, represented by the Aperture Foundation, New York City, NY
- Photovogue Milan, Represented by PhMuseum as the recipient of the first prize for the 2024
Women Photographers Grant, Milan, Italy
- Garden, Group Exhibition curated by Justine Kurland, Sharpe Walentas Studios, 20 Jay street Studios, Dumbo, NY
2024 - Co-curator for the TASVIR Research Exhibition, Northlight Gallery, Phoenix, AZ (Featuring works of 59 Artists)
- Layer Play- Collaborative Lithography Exhibition, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM
- Context 2024, Filter Photo Festival, Filter Space Gallery, Chicago, IL
2023 - Of Fervorous Bodies, Harry Wood Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (link)
2022 - Faculty Exhibition, California State Summer School of the Arts, CalArts, Valencia, CA
2021 - Overlap, Erstererster Gallery, Berlin, Germany (link)
- 25 Photographs, Pioneer Work, New York, NY (link)
- Architecture of Elsewhere, Gallery Perchée, Curated by Bianca Abdi-Boragi, Online Exhibition
2020 - Emerging Photographers, IGAVEL auctions, New York, NY
2019 - Delirious Cities, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY (link)
- Transcript, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, NY (link)
- Yale MFA Photography 19’, Yale School of Art MFA Photography Thesis Show, Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT
2018 - Words Cannot Express, Yale School of Art Second Year Exhibition, Green Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT
- Labyrinths (Virtual Reality Exhibition), IEEE GEM Conference, Galway, Ireland (link)
2017 - Yale School of Art First Year MFA Exhibition, Green Hall Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
- White (solo exhibition), Radin Gallery, Mashhad, Iran (link)
2016 - Urban Photography; Psychogeography (solo exhibition) graduate photographic Thesis Exhibition, Tehran Gallery, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Teaching Experience
2023 - Assistant Professor of Photography, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
2022 - Visiting Faculty, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
- Juror for the Allan Sekula Social Documentary Fund, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
2021-22 - Technical Faculty and Associate Director of the Photography Lab, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
- Juror in Artwork open call for the show titled Framework, Gallery South, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
2020-21 - Adjunct Professor in Photography, Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions, New York University, NY
- Guest Critic, Drew University, Madison, NJ
- Guest Critic, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ
2017-19 - Yale University, Teaching assistant:
B&W Photography Capturing Light,
Introduction to Documentary Filmmaking, with Sandra Luckow
Digital Photography, with Theodore Partin
Persian Language, with Farkhondeh Shayesteh
2016 - Guest Lecturer, Photography and City Workshop, Department of Architecture and Urbanism, Ferdowsi
University of Mashhad, Iran
- Guest lecturer on the Role of Photography in the Formation of Urban Subjectivity, Department of Architecture and
Urbanism, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
Artist Talks
2023 - University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
2022 - California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA
2021 - Yale School of Art’s Alumni Panel, New Haven, CT
- Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
- The City College of New York, NY
- California State University, Long Beach, CA
2020 - Drew University, Madison, NJ
2019 - Yale University, New Haven, CT
Press and Publication
2025 - A Shimmering Portrait of Contemporary Iran by Haleh Anvari, Aperture, NY
- Portraits of Transition: Sara Abbaspour’s Poetic View On Iran by Lucia De Stefani, PhMuseum, Italy
2023 - Cadre Gallery Magazine, Interviewed by Hasti Zahiri (link)
- Cruzada’s Intuition, Harry Gamboa Jr., self published, ISBN9798371019790 (contributed as a performer)
2021 - Ain'tBad Magazine, April 7, 2021 by Sydney Gillum
2020 - Lumpen Magazine, Issue #137
- 60 WRD/MIN Art Critic Review, February 2020
2019 - Delirious Cities by curator Brendan Embser, Aperture Blog Feature, July 2019
- Transcript, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT
2018 - MATTE Magazine, Best Students 2018 Anthology, Issue #49