Bio

Razan AlSarraf (she/ her) is an artist and educator based between Kuwait and Los Angeles. Through painting, drawing, video and sound, she reflects on the interactions of people with land and landscape. She received a BFA in Fine Arts with honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York and an MFA in Art from the California Institute of the Arts. Razan is the recipient of the SVA Alumni Society Scholarship & Award and Ministry of Higher Education of Kuwait Merit Bachelors and Masters Scholarships. She has exhibited internationally, participating within solo and group shows in New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.

Education

2022 Master of Fine Arts, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA

2018 Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Honors, Awards & Residencies

2024

[ongoing] Visionary Creatives Residency, Promenade Cultural Center, Kuwait

2023

[ongoing] sporespace x Hunna Residency, Ojai, CA

2022

TropicalLab Residency, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

2020 - 2022

SADI Residency, Sadu House, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Masters Scholarship, Ministry of Higher Education, Kuwait City, Kuwait

2018 - 2019

PDI Fellow with the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, Kuwaiti Embassy, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science

2014 – 2018

Alumni Society Scholarship & Award, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Honors in Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Certificate of Academic Merit, Kuwait Culture, Washington, DC

Merit Scholarship, Ministry of Higher Education, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Exhibitions & Curatorial Projects

2024

(forthcoming) Duo-Show at Promenade Cultural Center, Kuwait

(forthcoming) solo show at spore space, Ojai, CA

*Co-curated - Raj’een, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait

2023

Hunna - Elles - هنّ, Millon, Paris, France

*Co-curated - Palestinian Art Stands: Cultural Resistance, Contemporary Art Platform, Kuwait

Razan AlSarraf Open Studio, GOES TO OCEAN, Los Angeles, CA

*Co-curated - Tips on Surviving the Subterranean River Caverns of Los Angeles, GOES TO OCEAN, Los Angeles, CA

*Co-curated - soft threads, Bardwell Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Career Accelerator, GOES TO OCEAN, Los Angeles, CA

2022

durée, Helen J Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

TropicalLab Residency Exhibition, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

BijouFest, CalArts, Valencia, CA

CalArts Expo, CalArts, Valencia, CA

METAMAKING, CalArts, Valencia, CA

MFA Open Studios, CalArts, Valencia, CA

gharb, ghurba, ghurbar, MFA Thesis, CalArts, Valencia, CA

Asia America, MoCA LI, Long Island, NY

Gulf Metaverse 2.0 - Radical Futures Festival, VCU, Qatar

MIA Art Collection, Al Safa, Dubai, UAE

2021

Crossed Wires, CalArts, Valencia, CA

Other Places Art Fair, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA

SADI, Sadu House Gallery, Kuwait

CalArts Expo, CalArts, Valencia, CA

thurs.night, CalArts, Valencia, CA

Shake Up the Room, September Gallery, Hudson, New York

Feeler Gauge Festival, Virtual Film Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA (Live until May 31)

2020

Solo Exhibition at Ghadir Gallery, Kuwait (cancelled due to covid)

Solo Exhibition at Masaha 13, Kuwait (cancelled due to covid)

Group Exhibition at Dar Al Funoon Gallery, Kuwait (cancelled due to covid)

Showroom, Becarre, Salmiya, Kuwait

2019

Boiling Point, Superposition Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Womankind Benefit, Womankind, New York, NY

Open Studios, Nolo Studios, Brooklyn, NY

2018

Generation ز , ArtX, New York, NY

Re-cord, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Open Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

We Love Decay, Flatiron Project Space, New York, NY

Abolish 153, The Hub, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Cutting Out, Art and Method, Brooklyn, NY

The Politics of Identity, SVA Chelsea Gallery, New York, NY

2017

Tradition is the Illusion of Permanence, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

BFA Fine Arts Open Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Becoming Shades, Flatiron Gallery, New York, NY

Herbs, Community Table, Kuwait

Showroom, Becarre Gallery, Salmiya, Kuwait

2016

(In)timate, Venue 845, Newark, New Jersey

RAW: MOTIF, the Warsaw, Brooklyn, New York

Saffron, the View, Kuwait

Mise, Salhiya, Kuwait

Artist's Journal, VCS Gallery, New York, New York | Curated by Peter Hristoff

Artist Talks

(forthcoming) Razan AlSarraf Artist Talk, Masaha, Kuwait

(forthcoming) With the Land: Environment and Nature in Contemporary Gulf Art  (Panel Discussion hosted by Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington with Alia Zaal & Talin Hazbar), Kuwait - DC

Interrobang!, (Talk with Q&A, Moderated by Zoe Strauss), February 2022, Kuwait - LA

CalArts Open House, (Talk with Q&A), January 2021, Kuwait - LA

Expanding Boundaries (Panel Discussion with Maha Al Asaker, Deniz Ataman, Nada Faris, and Samaher Bayazeed), May 7, 2019, Ludlow House, New York, NY

(Re)imagining Home (Panel Discussion at the Arab Conference at Harvard), April 6, 2019, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Generation ز : Artist/ Curator Talk and Exhibition Tour, December 19, 2018, ArtX, New York, NY

Culture Forum: Art for Sustainable Futures (Panel Discussion with Rashad Salim and Matthew Mazzota, moderated by Stephen Stapleton), October 16, 2018, Asia Society, New York, NY

International Student Artist Panel Discussion, August 31, 2017, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Sotheby’s Institute of Art: Studio Visit and Artist Talk, February 13, 2017, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Cultural Partner Program: Opening Ceremony, October 12, 2016, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

International Student Artist Panel Discussion, August 26, 2016, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Public Art Projects

Palestinian Wild Flowers & Olive Trees, February 2024, Masayil, Kuwait

City Kids Mural, June 2019, Brooklyn NY

Generation ز Wild Postings, October 2018, Brooklyn NY

Acorn School Murals, September 2017, New York, NY

Stuyvesant Cove Park Murals, April 2017, New York, NY

Sarajatel Munira Nursery Murals, April 2013, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Press