BIO

Christina Habibi is an abstract painter born in Tehran, Iran, and based in Athens, Georgia. She's maintained a studio practice for over three decades.

Her work has been featured in the Twin Cities PBS series Minnesota Original, which documented her creative process, and artwork by Habibi was included in the film Dear White People. 

Habibi continues to explore the possibilities of abstraction through an evolving body of work.

Statement

My art explores relationships: between language and image, gesture and intention, memory and the present. I make it for people who enjoy living with questions instead of answers.

Every painting begins with physical gesture rather than a plan. I let my body lead while my mind stays present, responding instead of directing. The work develops through a conversation between instinct and awareness, where each mark influences the next rather than serving a predetermined outcome.

Words find their way into the paintings as I work. Sometimes they echo what's happening on the surface; other times they seem to belong to an entirely different conversation. I'm interested in what happens when language and paint occupy the same space without explaining one another. The tension between them becomes another relationship within the work.

I never set out to tell a story or arrive at a single meaning. Instead, I build layered spaces where forms, color, texture, and language continue to shift in relation to one another. I hope each painting rewards sustained attention, revealing something different with every encounter.

For me, a painting succeeds when it remains open, when it invites curiosity instead of certainty and continues to ask questions long after I've stopped painting.