Shirana Shahbazi has been named as the recipient of The Société des Arts de Genève Prize 2025.
Shahbazi, an Iranian-born artist based in Zurich, was chosen for her unique photography work and achievements in her artistic career. Shahbazi’s practice exemplifies an expansive approach to art and reflects an artistic diversity that exists across borders and varied practices.
The artist’s multimedia work blends photography, painting and installation and often incorporates varied styles, using landscapes and portraits, to uncover the limits between what exists and what one perceives. This question is central to Shahbazi’s practice, which she explores through topics of identity, memory and representation.
Shahbazi’s work has been acquired by collections around the world including the Pompidou Centre in Paris, New York’s MoMA, the Kunsthaus in Zurich, and the Tate Modern in London, and she has been the recipient of prizes which include the 2019 Meret Oppenheim Prize in the field of the visual arts in Switzerland, and in 2022 the Mutina Art Prize in Modena.
The Société des Arts de Genève Prize, founded in 2009, is awarded every two years to either Switzerland-based or Swiss contemporary artists at a pivotal point in their career, with an aim to encourage and support these artists financially as well as further their international presence. The Prize, worth 50,000 CHF (around USD 60,000) includes a solo exhibition by the winning artist at the Palais de l’Athénée’s Crosnier Gallery in September 2025 as well as a publication.
