Negin Mahzoun

Negin Mahzoun (; born 1984, Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-born visual artist. She works across textiles, photography, painting, sculpture, and installation, with a practice that explores themes of observation, memory, gender, and trauma. Mahzoun is a member of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in New York City, where she maintains her studio.

Early life and education

Mahzoun showed an early interest in drawing and was encouraged by her parents to pursue art, which led her to attend an art high school. She later described this period as formative, shaping her early commitment to artistic practice. She went on to study graphic design at the undergraduate level, where she developed an interest in illustration, particularly for children's books and magazines. After graduation, Mahzoun worked as an illustrator for publishers and periodicals, but eventually moved away from the field due to the client-driven nature of the work. Her perspective on contemporary art broadened through her involvement with the artist-run Rybon Art Center and later the Kooshk Residency in Tehran, where she gained exposure to international networks and collaborative practices. She later moved to New York, where she earned an MFA in Studio Art from the City College of New York.

Artistic practice

Mahzoun's work is rooted in textiles and sewing, informed by her family background and her exploration of cultural and gendered identity. In recent projects, she has combined photography and textiles by printing self-portraits on fabric and stitching over the images until they fade. The act of piercing and covering through thread functions as both a material alteration and a metaphor for trauma, engaging ideas of erasure, concealment, and repair. Sewing in her practice extends beyond craft to serve as a language for addressing cultural and social trauma, particularly in relation to women's bodies. It embodies a dual role as destructive and restorative, reflecting themes of vulnerability and resilience Her works also engage with historical representations of the body and women's presence, embedding these references into textile-based self-portraiture where stitching operates as both a material process and a conceptual intervention. Through this layering, she reframes cultural heritage as an active medium, positioned as a living archive to be reinterpreted in the present.

Exhibitions

  • 2025 Photo London, Roya Khadjavi Projects and Nemazi Art Foundation, London, UK
  • 2024 Structure & Story, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, USA
  • 2024 In the House, Pen + Brush Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2024 Enter Art Fair, Galleria Anna Marra, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2024 With Every Fiber, Aicon Gallery, New York City, USA
  • 2024 Paralleller, POP-UP UDSTILLING, Ebeltoft, Denmark
  • 2024 Photo London, Roya Khadjavi Projects and Nemazi Art Foundation, London, UK
  • 2024 Milan Image Art Fair, Roya Khadjavi Projects, Milan, Italy
  • 2024 INTRECCI [INTERTWINING], Galleria Anna Marra, Rome, Italy
  • 2024 Zona Maco, Galleria Anna Marra, Mexico City, Mexico
  • 2024 Seeing Is Realizing There Is Always More to See, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, USA
  • 2024 Blank Tape, Brew House Gallery, Pittsburgh, USA
  • 2023 Asia Now, Roya Khadjavi Projects, Paris, France
  • 2023 Milan Image Art Fair, Roya Khadjavi Projects, Milan, Italy
  • 2022 I Shouted My Laughter To The Stars, Aicon Gallery, New York, NY
  • 2022 Here and Now, Bladr Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2022 Cycle, X Room Gallery, Maltfabriken, Ebeltoft, Denmark
  • 2020 My Very Favourite Things, The Lodge Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
  • 2020 A Thousand Canaries, Fall Silent in My Throat, Compton Goethals Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2019 Presence, Absence, Compton Goethals Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2019 Haft Paykar, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2016 Episode 01, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2015 Little Romance, Meem Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2013 6th Tehran International Biennale of Illustration, Tehran, Iran
  • 2013 Art for Peace, Vista Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2013 Silence, Aria Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2011 Collective Memories, Noghte Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2011 46th Golden Pen Festival, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 2010 Freedom, Noghte Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2008 9th Graphic Biennial of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
  • 2006 Silence Song, Mehrin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
  • 2004 Last View, Now, Arasbaran Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran

Artist residencies and professional experience

Mahzoun has participated in several international artist residencies. In 2022, she was awarded the Maltair Residency in Ebeltoft, Denmark, organized with the Danish Art Workshop in Copenhagen and Kunsthal Aarhus. During the residency, she focused on material research and sculptural experimentation, testing methods for scaling works to large formats suitable for public or private spaces.

In 2013, she participated in the Organhaus Residency in Chongqing, China, in collaboration with her spouse, Tooraj Khamenehzadeh. The project addressed censorship and freedom of expression, inviting local artists to share personal reflections despite restrictions. Their words were translated into Persian and painted onto borrowed garments, which were exhibited and later returned to the artists, who wore them again in daily life as part of the project's continuation.

Alongside her artistic practice, Mahzoun contributed to the development of artist residencies and exchange programs in Iran. At the artist-run Rybon Art Center and later at Kooshk Artist Residency in Tehran, she was involved in creating platforms that supported artists' research, experimentation, and collaboration. She continues this trajectory as co-founder of Badiyeh Arts, where she leads the Bisheh Project, a correspondence-based initiative inviting artists and art professionals to exchange letters as a form of dialogue across distance.

Honors and Awards

  • 2023 FST Studio Projects Fund, New York, USA
  • 2021 City Artist Corps Grant, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York, USA
  • 2020 Connor Award Scholarship, City College of New York, New York, USA
  • 2019 Connor Award Scholarship Second Place, City College of New York, New York, USA
  • 2019 Therese McCabe Ralston Connor Merit Award, City College of New York, NewYork, USA
  • 2019 Connor Award Scholarship, City College of New York, New York, USA
  • 2018 Connor Award Scholarship, City College of New York, New York, USA

Comments