Alireza Shojaian

Alireza Shojaian (b. 1988, Tehran; lives and works in Paris) is an Iranian painter whose figurative practice explores queer identity, intimacy, censorship and visibility. Trained at the Faculty of Arts and Architecture at Islamic Azad University in Tehran, he developed his work in a context where same-sex relationships are criminalized and representations of queer life are heavily restricted. Painting became a way of documenting experiences and identities often excluded from official narratives.

Shojaian frequently depicts nude or semi-nude male figures in intimate, vulnerable and sometimes confrontational scenes. Drawing on classical painting, mythology and art history, he reworks familiar poses and symbols to address contemporary experiences of desire, persecution and belonging. His figures are rendered with close attention to individual gestures, bodies and expressions, emphasizing their humanity rather than reducing them to symbols.

Historical references are central to his practice. Shojaian appropriates and transforms canonical imagery, combining it with contemporary figures and symbols to connect past and present. His works have addressed events affecting LGBTQ+ communities across the Middle East and have paid tribute to figures including Egyptian activist Sarah Hegazi and Lebanese musician Hamed Sinno.

Unable to exhibit his work openly in Iran, Shojaian moved to Beirut in 2017, where he began developing his practice publicly, before later relocating to Paris. Working across portraiture, allegory and staged compositions, he continues to use painting as a space for memory, desire and commemoration, creating a visual archive of queer lives while examining the forces that seek to erase or control them.