Kolsoum Salehi

I am Kolsoum Salehi, a visual artist born in Iran in 1988 and currently based in Turkey. My work engages with the experience of contemporary human life, the body, and memory. My practice often moves along the threshold between presence and absence, silence and expression, and what is visible and what remains concealed.

For many years, art has been my primary mode of expression and the most meaningful way for me to connect with the world around me. Rather than direct narration, I approach the image as a space for pause and contemplation—where emotion, time, and lived experience take shape through layered processes.

Working with painting and mixed media, I use layering as both a visual and conceptual method through which meaning gradually unfolds, allowing for a slower and deeper engagement with the work. In this process, I consider myself an artist-researcher, approaching art-making as a space for inquiry, observation, and reflection.

B.A. in Painting, Faculty of Art and Architecture, University of Gilan 2013
M.A. student in Painting, Anadolu University, Turkey

Solo Exhibitions
2015 – Waste Land, O Gallery, Tehran
2018 –Weight of Time, Electric Room, Dastan Projects, Tehran
2018 – Oasis, O Gallery, Tehran
2020 – Empty, Vista Gallery, Tehran
2021 – The Library of Babel, Dastan's Basement, Tehran
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Group Exhibitions
2017 – Agog, Dastan Projects, Tehran
2017 – Update, Dastan Projects, Tehran
2017 – GCA2 Projects, Mojdeh Gallery, Tehran
2019 –What if not exotic?, Building Bridges Art Exchange, Santa Monica, California
2019 –Encircle the Apple, Or Shadowlessness, Emrooz Gallery, Isfahan
2019 –Encircle the Apple, Or Shadowlessness, Dastan Outside Projects, Tehran
2019 – The Third Line, Vista Gallery, Tehran
2020 – 1393+7 – Online Exhibition, O Gallery, Tehran
2021 – Scratch, 009821 Projects, Tehran
2022 –Arches of Agony, Guest House, Los Angeles
2024 –Landscapes of the Mind, Plus 2, Tehran
2024 – Dead Body, 8/Cube Gallery, Tehran