Sima Salehi Rahni
Artist member since 2025
Newmarket, Ontario
Sima Salehi Rahni is an award-winning artist whose diverse practice spans photography, moving images, installations, and, most prominently, acrylic abstract painting. Having lived in multiple countries, she spent eighteen years in Singapore before relocating to New Zealand for thirteen years, and now, she resides in Canada. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (Painting) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) from Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore and, in 2023, earned a Doctorate in Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.
Sima’s work delves into themes of cultural identity, hybridity, and liminality, reflecting her lived experiences across different landscapes. Her art has been showcased in prestigious exhibitions like the Singapore Art Museum, Lasalle College of the Arts, Beaux-Arts de Paris, and the Elam Show in Auckland. She has been honoured with the Ida Cliff and Todd Trust Scholarship awards in New Zealand, and her works are part of public collections such as the Singapore Art Museum.
Currently focused on acrylic abstract painting, Sima’s expressive brushstrokes create vibrant, emotionally charged spaces that navigate time, memory, and personal experience. Each canvas unfolds as a delicate interplay of nostalgia, perception, and imagination, blending real and dreamlike elements of florals, trees, and landscapes. She explores cultural identity, resilience, and self-expression through her art, inviting viewers on a profoundly evocative journey.
Inside the Studio
Q+A
Describe your home in 3 words
Creative, serene, inviting
Beverage of choice
Coffee and Wine
Favourite artist(s) right now
Cy Twombly, Joan Mitchell, Jean Michel Basquiat
Select Past Exhibitions
2024
2023
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2019
2011
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2008
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2007
Accolades
2019
2018
2010
Press
2012
2011
Education
2023
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