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Saba Giani is a visual artist whose work explores the intersections of memory, displacement, and spatial narrative. Rooted in personal experience and shaped by her background in theatre, Giani’s practice investigates the emotional and psychological dimensions of place- often responding to themes of diaspora, loss, and belonging.
Giani’s works are distinguished by their interplay between invented motifs, altered perspectives, and layered narratives, which evoke a deliberate sense of placelessness. Her compositions serve as both personal archives and open-ended environments, where the viewer is invited to inhabit and interpret the work on multiple levels.
Born and raised in Iran, Giani fled her homeland due to political oppression, an experience that continues to inform the emotional and conceptual depth of her practice. She holds a BA in Fine Art from OCAD University (Toronto) and an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths University (London), where she was awarded the Alfred T. Vivash Bursary for Graduate Studies.
Notable recognitions include a commissioned work for the Ontario government’s Macdonald Block Complex, participation in the Florence Off-Campus Programme in Italy, and a recent endorsement by Arts Council England as a Global Talent (Exceptional Promise). In 2025, her work was featured in a group exhibition at Saatchi Gallery as part of Good Eye Projects’ residency programme.
Works for sale on auction:
Frostbite
2024
Acrylic on Canvas
20 cm x 30 cm
SOLD
This painting explores the potential of ‘snow’ as a metaphor for my experience
of immigration and displacement. Moving to Canada as a political immigrant
from Iran, my exposure to snow served as a ‘blank slate’ and hope for a new
life. My aim is to explore the duality of snow as an element of rebirth, as well
as an apparatus of amnesia and erasure of past memories of my homeland.
Severed Bond
2026
Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 44 cm
Price on Request
Referencing the tradition of floral still-life painting, I created this piece to reflect
on my personal experience of displacement and immigration. What is at first
glance an floral ordinary still-life, becomes more complex with the title ‘Severed
Bond’. In Persian mythology, the inverted flowerhead is a symbol of grief and
loss.
