We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of New South Wales stands.

Hoda Afshar A Curve is a Broken Line

A person wearing a bright red headscarf sits on a large white bag on a pale-coloured ground in front of a pale wall

Hoda Afshar Untitled #88 from the series Speak the wind 2015–22 © Hoda Afshar

The first major solo exhibition by one of Australia’s most innovative and unflinching photomedia artists

Through her photographs and moving image works, Iranian-born, Melbourne-based Hoda Afshar examines the politics of image-making. Deeply researched yet emotionally sensitive, her work can be seen as a form of activism as much as an artistic inquiry.

Afshar uses the camera to give visibility to those who have been denied it, resolutely insisting on the humanity of her subjects. She makes us contend with violence and brutality, not through blunt imagery but through evocation. Her work is anchored in empathy yet also radical in the way it wrestles with injustice.

This exhibition features photography and film from the past decade to present a comprehensive overview of Afshar’s recent practice, including a newly commissioned series. Amassed together in dialogue for the first time in a major public institution, these works offer a poignant reminder of the power of images and their coercive potential.