DUBAI.- Leila Heller Gallery presents All in the Family, a group exhibition featuring works by Farshid Shafiey, Atieh Sohrabi and Baran Shafiey. The exhibition will open in Dubai in May 2026.
All in the Family brings together three artists whose practices are connected not only through shared cultural roots but also through familial ties. The exhibition explores the dialogue that emerges between generations of artists, revealing how personal histories, cultural memory, and individual artistic languages intersect. Through painting and illustration, the artists reflect on themes of identity, everyday life, and imagination, offering viewers an intimate glimpse into the visual worlds that shape their creative practices.
Farshid Shafiey’s work is distinguished by a spirit of playfulness and experimentation. With a background spanning painting, illustration, graphic design, and animation, Shafiey approaches art as a space for creative freedom and visual storytelling. His compositions often embrace humor and spontaneity, drawing inspiration from cultural references and philosophical ideas. This playful sensibility serves as a way of questioning conventions while inviting viewers to engage with the unexpected and the imaginative.
Atieh Sohrabi’s practice bridges illustration and painting, creating works that are both intimate and visually evocative. Born in Tehran and now based in New York, Sohrabi draws on her extensive experience in illustration to construct images that balance narrative sensitivity with refined visual language. Her works often evoke moments of quiet reflection, where delicate compositions and subtle details convey emotional depth and personal memory.
Baran Shafiey, the youngest of the three artists, presents figurative paintings that explore narrative, color, and ornamentation. Influenced by the visual richness of Iranian culture as well as her experiences growing up between Tehran and New York, her paintings often feature vibrant palettes and patterned compositions. Through her exploration of form, perspective, and storytelling, Baran creates scenes that draw from everyday experiences while opening space for imagination and interpretation.
Together, the works in All in the Family reveal the ways artistic expression can evolve across generations while remaining connected through shared influences and lived experiences. The exhibition highlights the dynamic relationship between heritage and individuality, demonstrating how creative practices can both reflect and reshape the stories that bind families together.
FARSHID SHAFIEY
Farshid Shafiey, is a visual designer with expertise in painting, illustration, graphic design, and animation. Since 1997, he has exhibited in numerous group and solo shows across Iran, the USA, England, Italy, France, Slovakia, China, Japan, India, Dubai, and other countries. He has been honored with many international and national prizes for his illustrations, graphic design, and animations. The most characteristic element of his work is “playfulness,” as he describes it. Drawing inspiration from Susan Sontag’s notion that “sanity is a cozy lie,” which defines the Camp philosophy. Farshid views playfulness as a form of redemption in his work.
ATIEH SHORABI
Atieh Sohrabi was born (1976) and raised in Tehran, and currently living in New York City, freelance Illustrator and Artist, Atieh Sohrabi, started her carrier in 2001 by choosing Industrial Design as her major in Azad Art University. As she became more familiar with the art world, she decided to switch to a new path in illustrations. She moved from Tehran to New York in 2015. Atieh’s books have been selected by different exhibitions and muse ums around the world; for instance, Biennale of Illustrations Bratislava, Biennale of Illustration Golden Pen Belgrade, 24th BIB Exhibition in Hiratsuka Art Museum, Kawara Museum of Takahama City Chiba City Museum of Art, Ashikaga Museum of Art, Urawa Art Museum in Japan, The Tehran International Biennale Illustration, and LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum). In 2020, her paintings were curated by Roya khadjavi in two group shows which were held in Highline gallery, New York, and five pieces of the show were selected by Communication Arts Magazine, and she achieved the 2022 Award of Excellence. She was selected by Meta Platforms, Inc (IG&FB) as a Persian artist to create stickers for celebrating Nowruz (Persian new year) in 2022. One of her pieces is included in the “Women Defining Women in Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond” Group show, curated by Linda Komaroff in LACMA museum in 2023.
BARAN SHAFIEY
Baran Shafiey is a providence-based artist and recently graduated from The Rhode Island School of Design painting program in June 2025. She was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to New York city with her family at the age of twelve. Her paintings are often figurative following a narrative. Considering the usage of ornamentation in the culture that she grew up with in Iran, many of her pieces include maximalist elements such as vibrant colors and patterns. Her practice relies on the study of form, color, composition, weight, and perspective as she continues to draw and collect an archive of inspirations for future pieces. Her narratives often emerge from the dialogue between memories, simple everyday life, and these formal explorations. Shafiey is a 1st and 2nd Grantee of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (2024 & 2025) as well as the Florence Leif Award in 2025. Her work has been included in various group shows located in Toronto, Providence, Pawtucket, New York City, and Los Angeles. She is currently a resident at the Anderson Ranch Painting Residency Program, and is planning to attend Hof Schluense Residency in the Summer of 2026.
