Iranian-American, b. 1975
Lives and works in the Bay Area, California

Shiva Ahmadi utilizes a variety of artistic mediums, including painting, sculpture, and animation, to tell stories. She combines luminous colors and mystical beings with violent imagery, drawing attention to global issues such as migration, war, and brutality against marginalized peoples.

Ahmadi (b. 1975) moved to the United States from Iran in 1998 and has been based in Bay Arae since 2015. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Azad University (Tehran), and Master of Fine Arts degrees from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. Besides solo exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and Asia Society Museum, New York, NY, Ahmadi has been included in group shows at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY; Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha Qatar; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada. Ahmadi’s work has been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Dallas Museum of Art, TX; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Detroit Institute of Arts, MI; and Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA. Ahmadi is a recipient of the "Anonymous Was A Woman Award", Kresge Fellowship and Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. She is currently a professor of art at the University of California Davis.