Sanam Khatibi’s works deal with animality, and our primal impulses and the core of her practice interrogates our relationship to power structures, specifically the duality of triumph and failure. The recurrent themes that often feature in her work question our relationship with excess, loss of control, bestiality, the male-female dynamics, domination and submission. She 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 in alluring, exotic landscapes. They are ambiguous with their relationship to power, violence, sensuality and each other. Wildlife and animals are an integral part of her practice, and her subjects are often depicted within the same plane as the flora and fauna. Her work consists of paintings, embroideries, tapestries, and sculptures. BIOGRAPHYBorn 1979 in Tehran, IranLives and works in Brussels, Belgium SOLO EXHIBITIONS2020Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO USAKunsthal, Ghent, Belgium2019An hour before the Devil fell, P.P.O.W, New York, NY USADe ta salive qui mord, BPS22, Charleroi, BelgiumThe Murders of the Green River, rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium2018Wild Mink, Artlead Salon, Brussels, Belgium2017Rivers in your mouth, rodolphe janssen, Brussels, BelgiumWith tendresse and longing, Billboard Series #6: Art in Public Space, Artlead, Gent, BelgiumNo Church in the wild, The Cabin LA, Los Angeles CA, USA2016Le jardin décomposé, Super Dakota, Brussels, BelgiumThe hollow in the ferns, NICC Vitrine, Brussels, Belgium2015Ask me nicely, trampoline, Antwerp, Belgium2014Séduire ou crever de faim, Island, Brussels, BelgiumGROUP EXHIBITIONS2020Tears of Eros, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands2019The Seventh Continent, 16th Istanbul Biennial, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, Istanbul, TurkeySome Trees, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA USALe Salon, M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium2018Terres de Femmes, Praz-Delavallade, Paris, FranceWe attack at nightfall, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels, BelgiumOp de grond, tussenin of aan de hemel, Curated by Els Wuyts, Ten Bogaerde, Coxyde, Belgium100 Sculptures, Curated by Todd Von Ammon & Josep Ian Henrikson, Anonymous Gallery, Mexico City, MexicoMademoiselle, CRAC Occitane, Sète, FranceSEED, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY USADead Eden, Lyles & King, New York, NY USAWhat are you staring at?, curated by Domenico De Chirico, Eduardo Secci, Florence, ItalyQuel amour !?, MAC, Musée d’Art Contemporain, Marseille, France20 YEARS NICC - JUBILEE - A works, NICC, Antwerp, BelgiumWeeping, Dreaming, Fucking, Laughing, Wschód Gallery, Warsaw, Poland2017Listening To The Form, Panthera, Brussels, BelgiumHecate, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles, CA USADalonaz, Royal, Brussels, Belgium2016Summer in the City, Christine König Gallery, Vienna, AustriaBiennial of Painting, Museum of Deinze, Deinze, BelgiumBalls & Glory, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium2015Louise186, Brussels Art Days, Brussels, BelgiumMe, Myself and I, trampoline, Antwerp, BelgiumPalourdes cuites, Christopher Crescent, Brussels, BelgiumEvery day I’m..., Harlan Levey, Brussels, Belgium2014The Penthouse Art Event, Harlan Levey Projects, Bloom Hotel, Brussels, Belgium2013Thalie Art Project (curated by Emmanuel Lambion and Nathalie Guiot), Brussels, Belgium2012The Antagonist, Waterside Contemporary, London, UK