Sanam Khatibi

I sometimes depict violence, but always in a gentle way. What interests me is the fine line between our fears and our desires. I've come to realize that what we're attracted to often frightens us. I like to depict our reactions to situations of danger or anxiety. This is the underlying and main subject of my work: what deals with our fears and pushes us to react like animals. – Sanam Khatibi

Sanam Khatibi’s work explores notions of animality and the primal impulses that we all share. At the core of her practice is a questioning of our relationship with power structures, and the duality of triumph and failure. The recurrent themes that feature in her work are chaos, destruction, excess, loss of control, domination, and submission. Khatibi is also interested in the thin line that exists between fear and desire, and how closely they are interrelated.

Her subjects live on their impulses, set within alluring, exotic, and dangerous landscapes. Wildlife and animals are an integral part of her practice, and her figures are often depicted within the same plane as the flora and fauna. Power, violence, and sensuality mingle, intermix, and overlap with each other ambiguously, giving rise to multifaceted scenarios that juxtapose the animal and the human, past and present, cruelty and seduction.

Her practice consists of paintings, embroideries, tapestries, sculptures, and installations.

Sanam Khatibi (Belgian with Iranian heritage) lives and works in Brussels.

Her recent solo shows include: PPOW, New York (2024); Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2022); Groeninge Museum, Bruges (2021); Kunsthal Gent (2020); rodolphe janssen, Brussels (2019); BPS22 - Musée d’art de la Province de Hainaut, Charleroi (2019).

Khatibi’s work has also been part of institutional group shows in Plains Art Museum, Fargo (2024); National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens (2022); Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2022); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2021); S.M.A.K., Ghent (2021); Kortrijk Triennial (2021); Kunstverein Dresden (2020); Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Antwerp (2020); 16th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2019); Centre Régional d’Art Contemporaine (CRAC) Occitaine, Sète (2018); Musée d’Art Contemporain (MAC), Marseille (2018); Museum of Deinze and the Leie region (2016).