Biography

Saba Raissian is an interdisciplinary artist based in Tehran, Iran, and a Master of Fine Arts candidate in Media Arts at Southern Illinois University, USA. Her work merges live performance, video, and installation, exploring identity, displacement, global connection, and collective traumas, with a particular focus on the Middle East.

Through audience participation and symbolic materials, she challenges societal and ideological barriers. Notable works include Here (2024), a performance where clothing becomes a tool for exchanging hidden traumas and confronting the labels imposed by society; I Am a Citizen of the Earth (2020), an interactive performance confronting violence, displacement, and the search for peace in the Middle East, while also addressing the global urgency of climate change and the need for collective responsibility; and The Other (2024), presented at MoMA, which investigates the idea of otherness across gender, religion, borders, and culture revealing how these divisions fuel misunderstanding and crisis, and inviting audiences to reconsider their perception of “the other” in both intimate and global contexts.