Hoda Afsar

Hoda Afshar (b. Iran, 1983) is a visual artist whose work explores the complex intersections between politics and aesthetics, knowledge and representation, and visibility and violence. Through photography, video, and experimental forms of image-making, she investigates how visual culture shapes collective perception—challenging dominant narratives and inviting viewers to reconsider what and how they see. Afshar often collaborates with participants in her documentary projects, using interventions that disrupt conventional approaches to truth-telling and representation. Her practice spans various media, incorporating archival materials, text, sound, and techniques such as 3D photography, printing, and mirror-making, reflecting her interest in both the conceptual and material dimensions of the image. Widely exhibited and collected internationally, her work is held in major institutions including the Victoria & Albert Museum, MoMA, Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, the Getty Museum, the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, and the National Gallery of Victoria, among others. In 2023, her first major survey exhibition A Curve is a Broken Line opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, accompanied by a publication. Afshar has received numerous honors, including the National Photographic Portrait Prize (2015 & 2025), the Bowness Photography Prize (2018), the Ramsay Art Prize People’s Choice Award (2021), and the Hood Medal from the Royal Photographic Society (2022). She is currently a DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow (2025). Her acclaimed monographs Speak the Wind (MACK, 2021) and The Fold (Loose Joints, 2025) further expand her inquiry into the politics of visibility and voice. Afshar is represented by Milani Gallery in Brisbane, Australia.