Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi

Born in Ghazni, Afghanistan, 1995
Lives and works in Sarnen

Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi works in mixed media and installations. Her work explores Western narratives of cultural homogenization and hierarchies, often employing mass produced materials such as aluminium foil, off-cuts or gaffer tape. She makes no attempt to disguise the utilitarian origin of the materials and often elevates them to the level of poetry with the juxtaposition of a rose - a recurrent motif in her work. The framing of her works in box-like structures seems to refer to codes of Western art, turned on their head by the modest nature of the materials.

Through complex cultural referencing and a minimalist approach to material, the artist challenges institutional codes and questions notions of taste.

Recent solo and group exhibitions include: Don’t Build Picturesquely, Hot Wheels Athens (2022), Hymn and Silence, LC Queisser, Tbilisi, (2021) LOVE/ Terms and Conditions, Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich (2021); Cry Me a River, Cordova, Barcelona (2021); Emmy Hennings/ Sitara Abuzar Ghaznawi, Swiss Institute, New York (2020).

She completed a Foundation Program at Basel School of Design from 2014 to 2016 and then a Bachelor of Arts in Art & Media, Zurich University of the Arts in 2019.

Ghaznawi is represented by LC Queisser, Tbilisi and Maria Bernheim Gallery, Zurich.