Shirazeh Houshiary

Shirazeh Houshiary was born in Shiraz, Iran, in 1955. She studied at Chelsea School of Art, London (1976-79) and then for a year was Junior Fellow at Cardiff College of Art. Her first solo show was held at the Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, in 1980, since when she has shown regularly in solo and mixed exhibitions in Britain, Europe and America. She was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1994.

Her sculpture is rooted in the mysticism of Islamic culture, particularly the poetry of Jalalu'ddin Rumi, a thirteenth-century Sufi mystic. Sufism centres on the quest for ...