Shirin Mellatgohar (b.1976, Baghdad, Iraq) is a visual artist based in Tehran, Iran. She received her BFA from Tehran University of Art. Her work has been included in a number of exhibitions, nationally and internationally, such as Sugar Gallery, USA; Naregatsi Gallery, Armenia; Aaran Gallery, Tehran; Homa Gallery, Tehran; First Painting Symposium in Museum of Qasr Prison, Tehran; and First Drawing Biennial, Karaj.

 

In 1980 Saddam Hussein expelled her and her family from Iraq due to their Iranian nationality, so they became refugees in Iran. A few months later, Saddam Hussein attacked Iran, invaded some part of its territory and began an eight-year war. Shirin with a hybrid national identity (Iranian-Iraqi) grew up within Iranian society during war. Working primarily with painting and drawing, she addresses her hybrid national identity through using domestic crafts, which she learned from her mother in very young ages, such as embroidery and crochet as well as paper-mache.