Afsaneh Shafai was born in Maragheh, Eastern Azerbaijan province of Iran. She moved to Canada in 1976 and graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1982. She continued her post graduate studies in Art Therapy at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute, believing that “Art is Healing.” This sentiment was nurtured by her grandmother who always offered her a piece of dough to calm her down when she was unhappy. From the age of two Afsaneh worked through her difficulties by working first with dough then in later years, with clay, pastel, ink and more. Who knew then these small pieces of dough would nurture her creativity!

The strong theme of her work remains “Unveiling of Women.” “It has been such a struggle to come to terms with my identity and sense of belonging. The struggle continues as long as life continues.”

In her artistic venture, she has had many group and solo shows of her sculptures, mixed media, acrylic paintings and ink and pastel drawings in Toronto galleries. since 2002 she has taken the challenge of incorporating dance and drama to her visual art medium and most recently, moving picture installations in the hopes of presenting the multi-dimentional struggles of immigrant women in multi-disciplinary arts form.