Biography

Sahar Khoury (b. 1973, Chicago, IL) lives and works in Oakland, CA. Khoury employs an intuitive approach to composition, utilizing a range of materials and techniques including ceramic, concrete, papier-mâché, resin, textiles, paint, metal, and wood, among others. The anthropological concept of structural vulnerability, seeking patterns in cultures to reveal normalization, is the framework that is at the center of her thinking process. She frequently draws upon objects she describes as “rejected, ubiquitous, unwanted,” and often uses these objects as molds or surfaces for reliefs that appear repeatedly across bodies of work to make new meanings. 

Khoury received her BA in Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1996 and her MFA in Art Practice from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. She has had solo exhibitions at the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH (2024); Rebecca Camacho Presents, San Francisco, CA (2022; 2019); CANADA, New York, NY (2022; 2019); and the Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA (2017). 

Khoury’s work has been included in group exhibitions at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI (2025); the Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea (2024); John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI (2024); Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA (2022); Scripps 77th Ceramic Annual, Claremont, CA (2022); di Rosa Center for Contemporary Arts, Napa, CA (2021); Jack Hanley Gallery, New York, NY (2021); Candice Madey, New York, NY (2021); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA (2019); Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA (2018); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA (2018); Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA (2018); amongst others.

She was an artist-in-residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito (2020) and received the prestigious SECA Art Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2019). 

Khoury's work is in the collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), San Francisco, CA.

Selected Works
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Lower left corner of my rug), 2024
    Untitled (Lower left corner of my rug), 2024
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Middle right section of my rug), 2024
    Untitled (Middle right section of my rug), 2024
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Turquoise crown), 2024
    Untitled (Turquoise crown), 2024
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Yellow crown), 2024
    Untitled (Yellow crown), 2024
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (bed for Umm Kulthum), 2023
    Untitled (bed for Umm Kulthum), 2023
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Palestinian olive oil nightlight), 2023
    Untitled (Palestinian olive oil nightlight), 2023
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (radio tower with accessories), 2023
    Untitled (radio tower with accessories), 2023
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (sumac), 2023
    Untitled (sumac), 2023
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (black belts), 2019
    Untitled (black belts), 2019
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (holder of David Hammons' slideshow), 2019
    Untitled (holder of David Hammons' slideshow), 2019
  • Sahar Khoury, Untitled (Security Gate Topiary), 2019
    Untitled (Security Gate Topiary), 2019
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