Athena Jahantigh is an Iranian sculptor born in 1976 who has been living and working in France since 2003. The daughter of painter and calligrapher Sharif Jahantigh, she grew up in an artistic environment and discovered ceramics while studying art in Iran. Her artistic language was shaped in part by her experience of the archaeological excavations at Shahr-e-Soukhteh — the “Burnt City” — where the animal motifs found on ancient pottery, particularly deer and humped bulls, left a lasting impression on her.

From this ancient heritage, she has developed a distinctly contemporary bestiary of horses, bulls, gazelles, rams and birds, whose forms she distils, simplifies and reinterprets.

After settling in France, she continued her studies at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, earning a Master’s degree followed by a PhD in Arts and Art Sciences. Her research initially explored the human body, bodily imprints, fragmentation and questions of female identity. Today, animal sculpture lies at the heart of her practice. Rather than telling stories, Athena Jahantigh gives form to singular presences, at once familiar and timeless, where the archaic meets the contemporary.