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Shirazeh Houshiary
Shortlisted: 1994

Houshiary's sculptures, paintings and drawings develop over a long period, informed by Sufi poetry and ancient writings mathematics, philosophy, religion, art and astronomy. She believes that, through art, artists document their path to self-knowledge. 'An artist is someone who is capable of unveiling the invisible, not a producer of objects.'

The Enclosure of Sanctity 1992-3 (detail) Lead, copper, silver leaf and gold leaf, five parts, each 100 x 100 x 100 cm Tate. Purchased with assistance from the Gytha Trust and the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1994 © Shirazeh Houshiary Photo: Tate Photography

Shirazeh Houshiary was born in Shiraz, Persia in 1955. She attended Chelsea School of Art from 1976 to 1979 and was a Junior Fellow at Cardiff College of Art in 1979 and 1980. She was nominated for the Prize in 1994 for her exhibitions of sculpture and drawings, most notably at the Second Tyne International and the Camden Arts Centre.

This information has been taken from The Turner Prize: Twenty Years, by Virginia Button, Tate Publishing, 2003.

View Shirazeh Houshiary in the Tate Collection