Photo Performance, Captured by Katayoun Bahrami
Shaghayegh Cyrous is a multidisciplinary artist whose immersive practice spans multimedia installation, performance, painting, and social practice. Rooted in mythology, nature, and social and political power dynamics, her work explores identity, belonging, and the spiritual threads that connect us across time and culture. Through poetic imagery and theatrical environments, Cyrous brings forward hidden stories passed down through myth, poetry, and acts of resistance, creating dreamlike spaces where the ancient and contemporary meet.
Cyrous received her BA in Visual Art from Science and Culture University of Tehran and her MFA in Social Practice from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Cyrous has exhibited and performed internationally at venues such as Tehran MOCA, the British Museum in London, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Institut für Alles Mögliche in Berlin, Germany, the Anchorage Museum in Alaska, Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, and Netflix’s Invisible Billboard and the billboard of the City of West Hollywood in Los Angeles.
SHAGHAYEGH CYROUS
born & raised in Tehran, Iran, based in Los Angeles, California
www.shcyrous.com | shaghayeghcyrous @ gmail.com
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2017, MFA in Social Practice, California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco, CA
2010, BA in Visual Arts Studies, University of Science and Culture (USC), Tehran, Iran
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2026 Through the Sun, Reisig and Taylor Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
2026 Breathe the Sun, Telematic Media Arts, San Francisco, CA
2024, Xvarnah, 9157 Sunset Boulevard, Moving Image Media Arts (MIMA), City of West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA
2023, “The New Common," Prospect Art Broadcast, Curated by Prima Jalichandra-Sakintabhai, Los Angeles, CA
2023, When the Sun Rotates, In honor of Women, Sales Force Tower, San Francisco, CA
2022, Golden Hour, Netflix Invisible Frame Billboard, 8743 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA
2022, When the Sun Rotates, In honor of Mahsa Amini, Woman, Life, Freedom, Sales Force Tower, San Francisco, CA
2022, When the Sun Rotates, Iranian American Women Day, April 27, IAWF, Jim Campbell Day for Night project Canvas on Salesforce Tower, San Francisco, CA
2022, “AMP Folktales” 2022 season, One of the 8th series of 8 episodes broadcasted monthly, California Arts Council, Oakland, CA
2020, The Window, Kottbusser Damm 68 Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2019, In Honor of..., (performance) 4 Waves: 40 Performances for the Hole, SOMARTS Culture Center, San Francisco, CA
2018, Radioactive Rug, Adobe Book, San Francisco, CA
2017, The House of Power, Four Elements Fitness, Oakland, CA
2015, Lost Rug Project, Meyer Library, Oakland, CA
2011, Motivation, Tehran East Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
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2024
Blooming Lights, Two Person Exhibition, with Katayoun Bahrami, Artists Television Access, San Francisco, CA
2021
The Journey سفر, with Keyvan Shovir, Artists Village Corner, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
2019
Language Project, North x North Festival, With Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Anchorage Museum, Alaska
2018
Language Project Workshop, With Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Berkeley, CA
Over Here Not Yet, With Renée Rhodes, Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA
The Essence of Threads, Sanctuary, For-Site Foundation, Fort Mason Chapel, San Francisco, CA
2017
Mother Song, The Mother Tongue Project, What We Offer is Free, (In Memory of Ted Purves), With Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Hubbell Street Galleries, San Francisco, CA
Golden Class Language Breakfast, The Mother Tongue Project, Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Open Engagement, Chicago, IL
The Garden, Practice Social, With Camilla Hammer, Hubbell Street Galleries, San Francisco, CA
2016
Critiquing United Nations, The Mother Tongue Project, SFArtNight, With Shirishti School in Bangalore, With Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, India, UN Plaza, San Francisco, CA
The Language tour, with Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
Museum in Museum, With Prima Sakuntabhai, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
The Language Project, Parking Lot Art Fair, With Magdalena Jadwiga Härtelova, San Francisco, CA
Unison of Sky, The 5th festival of 30 performances, 30 Artists, 30 days, curated by Amir Rad, with Samira Davarfara, Tehran MOCA, and CCA in San Francisco, Iran/USA
2014
The Future of the Past, The Past of Future, the 4th festival of 30 performances, 30 artists, 30 days, with Samira Davarfara, Tehran East Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Red Carpet and Black Dandelion, With Sepa Sama, Solitary Collaborative Practice, Emeryville, CA
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2026
“I Saw a Woman, Pounding Light into Mortar”, FOCA, Curated by Katayoun Bahrami, Los Angeles, CA
2025
GJON MILI VIDEO ART FESTIVAL, Producers Club Theatres, NY
Performance with Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
2024
21+Over, with La Pocha Nostra, Performance Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Performance with La Pocha Nostra, "State of Play Festival," San Francisco, CA
Manifest Differently, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
2023
The New Commons, Curated by Prima Jalichandra-Sakuntabhai, Prospect Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Cup Flows Over, Art From the Soul of Iran, Curated by Tim Blunk, Bergen Gallery, New Jersey, NY
2022
Zhian, The Touch of Sun, at Alien Race, LA Art Core, Los Angeles, CA
The Flow, Central Stage, and Artists Television Access, CA
Khamsa, Art Together, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
Peace Letter to Ukraine”, The Ukraine Darkroom, Alphabet Art Centre, Cologne, Germany
2021
Orbits/ Maddarha, Midnight Artists Collaboration, with Finely + Muse, Project of Jim Campbell Day for Night, Canvas on Salesforce Tower, San Francisco, CA
The Cycle, Eclipsed Body, Harmful Space, curated by Paria Vatankhah, Festival d'Oodaaq, Le lieu, Rennes, France
Bangkit Sama Sama/ Together We Rise, Clarion Alley Mural Project, Asian Art Museum, Yogyakarta, Indonesia & San Francisco, CA
Walking, Project 13, Central Stage, Richmond, CA
Bangkit Sama-Sama/ Arise Together, Cultural Exchange between the US and Indonesia, Clarion Alley Mural Project, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
2020
When We Decide to End Themselves, Central Stage, Richmond, CA
The Archive to Come, Telematic Media Arts, San Francisco, CA
Sensibility against Violence, NewMedia fest 2020, IAM-Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany
2019
Rock & Mortar, Video Installation Performance, With Kim Epifano and Epiphany Dance Theater, Z Space, San Francisco, CA
Everybody was Waiting, Part of In Honor of... The project, with Sholeh Asgary and Sahar Delijani, Artists Television Access (ATA), San Francisco, CA
Sensibility against Violence, Iranian Women artists, 25th International Video Art Festival of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco
Once at Present, Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora, Curated by Kevin Chen and Taraneh Hemami, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
Forms & Figures, Echo Park Film Center, Los Angeles, CA
ART AND THE 4th DIMENSION, International Symposium on Conceptions of Time, Space and Movement in Art, The International Affairs Office of the College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, Iran
Rock e Malta, ALTERNATIVA’s FRESH Festival, With Epiphany Dance Theatre, San Francisco, CA
2018
TRASLACION, Ctrl+Shft, Oakland, CA
No Smell Not Touch, Screening, Temescal Arts Center, Oakland, CA
Media Arts Film Screening, Kala Media Arts Fellows and Honorees, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Orium II, Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
"A River Flowing," East of West Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Art Give Back, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
"You Had to Be There," Klozar Weaving, Swissnex, San Francisco, CA
Kala Artists’ Annual Exhibition, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2017
Pronounce My Name?, East of West, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Flush!, Site-Specific Video Installation, Concept 190, San Francisco, CA
A Window to Tehran, Commencement Exhibition 2017, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
The Wing, Art, and Crime, Organized by Kota Ezawa, Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA
The Closest I Could Get to the Sun, MFA Thesis Exhibition, PFC, Wattis, San Francisco, CA
Debtfair (participating artist), a project of Occupy Museums, Whitney Biennial 2017, Whitney Museum, New York, NY
Meet "THEM," MENArt Group, 100 Days Action, Hubbell Street Galleries, San Francisco, CA
A Window to Tehran, MFA Now 2017, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Again, Rigo 23 project, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
2016
#simulacra, A window to Tehran, Embark Gallery, Juried by Julie Casemore and Allie Haeusslein
In-Transit, Hubble Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Our Gallery Is Your Living Room, Curated by Susanne Cockril, College Avenue Galleries, Oakland, CA
Letters to Species, Social Practice CCA, Academy of Science, San Francisco, CA
Inhale, Silk Road Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Crossroads project, Make a Change exhibition, curated by Sepa Sama, at Kulturcentrum Ronneby Konsthall, Ronneby, Sweden.
Critiquing the United Nations, a sound installation of The Language Project at SFArtNight, Shirishti School in Bangalore, India
Practice Social, Art Center Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015
Can We Talk About Art?, facilitated by Amanda Eicher, SFMOMA On The Go, San Francisco, CA
Outside Ourselves, Ourselves Outside, Borderline Collective, San Francisco, CA
Inside Out Iran, Art Canteen, Rich Mix, London, UK
Parking Lot Art Fair, San Francisco, CA
Offline.1, SO Contemporary, London, UK
2014
Ma (We), With Taraneh Hemami, Fabrication Exhibition, Project of Survival, Southern Exposure (SoEx), San Francisco, CA
Culture Citizen: The Immigrant and the Stranger, Denver Seminary, The Bridge Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013
Speak Your Peace, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
2012
Mirror, Golestan Palace, Curated by Drawing House, Tehran, Iran
2011
Balcony, Aaran Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Ajayebol Maxluqat, Momayyez Art Gallery, Drawing House, Tehran, Iran
Portrait, Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
In Appreciation of Shamsul ‘Emare, Golestan Palace, Tehran, Iran
2010
Water, mud, wind, fire, in appreciation of Pakistan’s flood, Solh Gallery, Red Crescent, Tehran, Iran
First Iranian Art Festival, Saba Museum of Art, Tehran, Iran
Spring, Magic of Persia (MOP) curated by Haleh Anvari, British Museum of London, UK
Coffee House, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran
2009
The Traveler, University of Science and Culture, Tehran, Iran
2008
BIENAL INTERNACIONAL DEL CARTEL EN MÉXICO, 10BICM, México
Damunfar 2nd Visual Art Exhibition, Niavaran Cultural Center, Tehran, Iran
Drawing Parade, Curated by Drawing House, Laleh Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
The World, Curated by Akbar Nikanpour, Afrand Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
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2021, The Journey, Mural, Village Artist Corner, With Keyvan Shovir, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
2019, In Honor of, Mural in support of women prisoners in Iran, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, CA
2015, In Memory of, Mural, With Keyvan Shovir, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, CA
2014, Persian Dreams, Mural, With Keyvan Shovir, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, CA
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Zamin Project, A multi-faceted art project, aims to create a space for dialogue and connection between SWANA artists, curators, and educators in the Bay Area and beyond.
Klozar Weaving Project, Changing the power dynamic between the weaver and the market industry.