Ali Rahimi

Ali Rahimi is an artist and art teacher from Afghanistan. He has been painting for over 20 years and has worked professionally as an artist since 2015, following the completion of a degree in experimental art. He is the winner of the 2023 Cultures of Resistance Award.

Rahimi’s work explores social and political issues, including the human condition shaped by experiences of migration, belonging, women’s rights, and the mistreatment of immigrants and refugees. You can read more about the themes explored and the methods used in Ali’s work in an interview he gave to Consequences Forum.

Between 2015 and 2023, Rahimi held four solo exhibitions and participated in 15 group exhibitions in Afghanistan, Iran, Armenia, Australia, Qatar, and Norway. These include:

• Solo exhibition, Soban Gallery (2016)
• Group exhibition: ‘Nimroz’, featuring 50 contemporary Afghan artists, Tehran (2017)
• Solo exhibition, Sayeh Gallery, Tehran (2017)
• Participation in Art Fair Armenia (2018)
• Group exhibition of Iranian and Armenian artists (2019)
• Solo exhibition, Tehran (2020)
• Group exhibition, Artattimlik platform (2021)
• Group exhibition, Australia (2023)
• Solo exhibition, O Gallery, Tehran (2023)
• Participation in the Doha Naqsh-e Jahan Auction
• Group exhibition ‘Can the Afghan Speak’, Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen, Norway (2024)

Following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Rahimi was no longer able to continue his work as a secular artist of Hazara ethnicity in Afghanistan.

In October 2025, Ali arrived in Sweden, where he began his two-year ICORN residency in Gävle. Ali is the fourth ICORN resident in the city, which focuses on hosting artists. He continues his work in Gävle and has already been involved in several projects.

Ali has also been featured in local media in Gävle, as well as in national outlets such as Sveriges Radio and SVT.

You can read Gävle ICORN City of Refuge’s press release about Ali here, as well as a welcome article by the Gävle Art Centre.