Solo Exhibitions

2025 - Another Word for Translation, Another Thread for Thought - Latcham Art Centre / Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON, Canada
2023 - Allow Me to Sow and See the Garden I Become - Patel Brown Gallery / Montréal, QC, Canada
2023 - SForEtoE – ECC Exterior Window Installation - Evergreen Cultural Centre / Coquitlam, BC, Canada
2023 - Urban Screen Program, ECfdV_EC - Libby Leshgold Gallery at Emily Carr University / Vancouver, BC, Canada
2022 - Afghanistan My Love - Aga Khan Museum / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Are We Even - Owens Art Gallery / Sackville, NB, Canada
2022 - A Call Home - Patel Brown Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2021 - There and Then - A Space Gallery / Toronto, CA
2021 - Burning Glass, Reading Stone - Blackwood Gallery / Mississauga, CA
2020 - A Study in Human Error - Patel Brown Gallery / Toronto, CA
2019 - WYSIWYM - Ed Video at Capacity 3 Gallery / Guelph, CA
2018 - Here Now Back Then - Double Happiness Projects / Toronto, CA
2012 - A Failed Revolution - 2 of 2 Gallery / Toronto, CA
2010 - Afghanistan - 2 of 2 Gallery / Toronto, CA

Select Group Exhibitions

2024 - Interlaced: Animation & Textiles, Curated by Alla Gadassik at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / New Plymouth, New Zealand
2024 - The Place to Which We Return, Curated by Rhéanne Chartrand at Art Toronto Focused Exhibition / Toronto, ON, Canada
2024 - Land[e]scapes II, Art Seen Contemporary / Nicosia, Cyprus
2024 - Carpets of Eden, Gardens of Fantasy, Leila Heller Gallery / Dubai, UAE
2024 - Gathering + Mending the Museum Project, Textile Museum of Canada / Toronto, ON, Canada
2023 - Intertwined: Labor and Technology in Contemporary Textile Art, FSU Museum of Fine Art / Tallahassee, FL, USA
2023 - In Parallel, The Power Plant Contemporary / Toronto, ON, Canada
2023 - Ornamental Gestures - Doris McCarthy Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Every Answer is Correct - The Power Plant Contemporary Off-Site Exhibition - EY LLP Tower / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Shifting Ground - DARC Project Space / Ottawa, ON, Canada
2021 - New Acquisitions Exhibition - Burnaby Art Gallery / Burnaby, Canada
2021 - Artifacts of the Horizon - Patel Brown Gallery / Toronto, Canada2021 - Vers un Imaginaire Numérique - Centre de Design de l'UQAM / Montreal, Canada
2021 - Remediations - Centre[3] for Artistic and Social Practice / Hamilton, Canada
2021 - 8th Bike Tour 2021 - Art Spin / Toronto, Canada
2021 - Fossilised Sunshine - Visual Arts Centre of Clarington / Clarington, Canada
2021 - Studio Practices: Commissioned Artist Videos for the Online Screen Space - A Space Gallery / Toronto, Canada
2021 - Infinite Scroll, part of Vector Festival - Trinity Square Video via Inter Access Gallery / Toronto, Canada
2021 - Dyssica: Connecting People - Curated by Patrice Chou / Teipei, Taiwan
2020 - BigArtTO - Video Projection at Thistletown Community Centre - OCAD University, City of Toronto, Animation & Visual Arts Inc. / Toronto, ON, Canada
2020 - 40 Under Forty - Joseph D. Carrier Gallery at Columbus Centre / Toronto, ON, Canada
2020 - Fair Adaptation, Gallery Pivots - Patel Brown Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2020 - Crossroads - Patel Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2020 - Little Squares: The Pixel as Material and Metaphor - Gelnhyrst Art Gallery of Brant / Brantford, ON, Canada
2019 - Undomesticated - Koffler Centre for the Arts / Toronto, ON, Canada
2019 - Summer Group Exhibition - Patel Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2019 - CAFKA @ The Walper 2019 - CAFKA at The Walper Hotel / Kitchener, ON, Canada
2018 - EQ Bank Emerging Artist Award Exhibition - Trinity Square Video / Toronto, ON, Canada
2018 - Ontario Artists Society 145th Annual Juried Exhibition - John B. Aird Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2018 - VAM40 Annual Juried Exhibition - Art Gallery of Mississauga / Mississauga, ON, Canada
2017 - Salon A Cote #1 - A Cote Studio / Toronto, ON, Canada
2015 - Realized - 5 year celebration of Digital Painting Atelier - Ada Slaight Student Gallery / OCAD University / Toronto, ON, Canada
2015 - Until Exhibition - Good Fellas Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2015 - Experiencing Perspectives - Mercedes Benz Juried Exhibition / Toronto, ON, Canada
2014 - Hazelton Lanes Art Festival - Juried Group Exhibition / Toronto, ON, Canada
2014 - Deck the Walls: 2nd Annual Salon Art Show - Project Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2014 - Frontier Art Exhibition - Project Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2014 - Optic Elixir IV - Project Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2013 - Abstract Implications III Part 1 & 2 - Project Gallery and Gallery 1313 / Toronto, ON, Canada
2010 - A Regime of Chaos - Gallery 1313 / Toronto, ON, Canada
2009 - Disfigured - Gladstone Hotel Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada

Art Fairs

2024 - Untitled Miami Art Fair with Transmitter Gallery - Miami Beach / Miami, FL, USA
2024 - Nada Miami Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Ice Palace Studios / Miami, FL, USA
2024 - Limassol Art Walk with Bravo Bravo Editions - The Island Club / Limassol, Cyprus
2024 - Art Toronto Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Metro Toronto Convention Centre / Toronto, Canada
2024 - Plural Contemporary Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery, The Grand Quay / Montreal, QC, Canada
2023 - Plural Contemporary Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery, The Grand Quay / Montreal, QC, Canada
2023 - Expo Chicago with Patel Brown Gallery, Expo Chicago at Navy Pier / Chicago, IL, USA
2022 - Art Toronto Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Metro Toronto Convention Centre / Toronto, Canada
2022 - Dallas Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Dallas Arts District / Dallas, USA
2021 - Nicosia Pop-up Festival via NiMAC - City Plaza / Nicosia, Cyprus
2021 - Dallas Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Dallas Arts District / Dallas, USA
2021 - Art Toronto Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Metro Toronto Convention Centre / Toronto, Canada
2021 - NADA House Art Fair with Patel Brown Gallery - Governors Island / New York, USA
2021 - Whaaaaats: International Contemporary Art Fair - Curated by Patrice Chou / Teipei, Taiwa
2019 - Booth U 16 - Untapped Artist at Artist Project 2019 / Toronto, ON, Canada

Education

2011 - Bachelors of Fine Arts (Drawing and Painting) - OCAD University / Toronto, ON, Canada

Residencies

2015 - Digital Painting Atelier - OCAD University / Toronto, ON, Canada
2014 Self Directed Residency - Artscape Gibraltar Point / Toronto Island, ON, Canada

Talks and Panel Discussion

2024 - Artist talk at York University / Toronto, ON, Canada
2024 - Artist talk at MacEwan University / Edmonton, AB, Canada
2024 - Artist Talk at The Power Plant Contemporary / Toronto, ON, Canada
2023 - Artist Talk at OCAD University / Toronto, ON, Canada
2023 - Artist Talk at The Power Plant Contemporary / Toronto, ON, Canada
2023 - Sunday Scene Exhibition Talk at The Power Plant Contemporary / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Artist Talk at Owens Art Gallery / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Artist Talk at Aga Khan Museum / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Artist Talk at OCAD University / Toronto, ON, Canada
2022 - Panel Discussion: Pricing and Editioning at OCAD University / Toronto, ON, Canada
2021 - Virtual Artist Talk at Centre 3 / Hamilton, ON, Canada
2021 - Virtual Artist Panel at Burnaby Art Gallery / Burnaby, BC, Canada
2021 - Artist Talk at Artist Project / Toronto, ON, Canada
2014 - OCAD Alumni: Navigating the Contemporary World at The Artist Project / Toronto, ON, Canada

Awards

2024 - Artist Award, Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts / Toronto, ON, Canada
2021 - GOG Exhibition of the Year Award to Blackwood Gallery for the exhibition Burning Glass Reading Stone / Mississauga, ON, Canada
2019 - Untapped Emerging Artist – Artist Project 2019 / Toronto, ON, Canada
2018 - Finalist for EDAA – EQ Bank Emerging Artist Award / Toronto, ON, Canada
2018 - Best Font Choice – BUMP Television Launch and Awards / Toronto, ON, Canada

Grants

2020 - Ontario Arts Council  - Exhibition Assistance Grant
2018 - Ontario Arts Council  - Exhibition Assistance Grant
2016 - Ontario Arts Council - Emerging Artist Grant

Publications and Essays

2024 - "The First Brushstrokes" in Patina Patina Issue 01, Curation + Creative Direction by Dan Cui & Maham Momin
2024 - "Control+Shift", in Selvedge Magazine, an essay by Keirdra Navaroli
2024 - “Carpets of Eden, Gardens of Fantasy”, exhibition text by Behrang Samadzadegan, Leila (Heller Gallery: Dubai, UAE)
2023 - "Designing the Computational Image, Imagining Computational Design", editors Daniel Cardoso Llach & Theodora Vardouli
2023 - “Allow Me to Sow and See”, exhibition text by Manel Benchabane (Patel Brown Gallery: Montréal, QC)
2022 - Camera Obsecura cover image + inclusion in the essay ‘Remixing to Queer the Archives of Diaspora: Qajar Photography and the Persian Carpet’ By Nazli Akhtari (Camera Obscura, vol. 37, no.3)
2022 - “A Call Home”, exhibition text by Muheb Esmat (Patel Brown Gallery: Toronto, ON)
2021 - “Is, But Will Be”, exhibition text by Saša Rajšić (Blackwood Gallery: Mississauga, ON
2020 - “A Study in Human Error”, exhibition text by Clara Puton (Patel Brown Gallery:  Toronto, ON)
2018 - “Here Now Back Then”, foreword by Mariam Nader (Double Happiness Projects: Toronto, ON)
2018 - Tie it Off & Count Again, edited by Rowan Lynch (Art Metropole: Toronto, ON)
2013 -“Rivet 4”, exhibition publication, edited by Lindsay LeBlanc and David Caterini (OCAD University: Toronto ON)  

Press 

2024 - “Art Lives”, Episode 1 - Shaheer Zazai, TVO Arts series in coordination with Aga Khan Museum
2023 - “Artist Spotlight with Shaheer Zazai” by Lila Nazemian, ArteEast – Global Platform for Middle East Arts.
2022 - “I touch Afghanistan when I touch these carpets – Meet the Afghan Canadian artist who designs intricate textiles on Microsoft Word” by Claire Francis, Toronto Life.
2021 - “Weaving different cultural perspectives into Is, But Will Be” by Tiana Dunkley, The Medium.ca. Online.
2020 - “Six art exhibitions to check out (safely) at Ontario galleries right now” by Roise Prata, The Globe and Mail. Online.
2020 - “Art Agenda: Robert Mapplethorpe at Olga Korper, Kristen Smith at Gallerywest, Joe Hambleton at Pari Nadimi and Shaheer Zazai at 2 of 2” by Matthew Purvis, BlogTO Arts. Online.
2019 - “Pixelated: How Shaheer Zazai Digitized Afghan Carpets” by Saba Askary, Ajam Media Collective. Online.
2018 - “How to weave an Afghan rug...using Microsoft Word”  by Leah Collins / CBC Arts.
2018 - “How 20 Artists See the Color Red”, Curated by Format Team / Format Magazine.
2018 - “Meet the 2018 Emerging Digital Artists Award Finalists”, Canadian Art. Online.
2012 - “A game of patient logic vs. manic impulse - in paint” by R.M. Vaughan, The Globe and Mail.

Public Art Installations and Commissions 

2024 - Out There Banner Series, Thunder Bay Art Gallery (forthcoming)
2023 - ECfdV_EC, commissioned video work by Libby Leshgold Gallery & Emily Carr University
2022 - Public art installation, The Gerry Wright Operations and Maintenance Facility, City of Edmonton (in progress)
2022 - Public art, Mabelle Arts fountain and tile mosaic, Etobicoke, ON (in progress)
2021 - Is, But Will Be, commissioned outdoor light boxes by Blackwood Gallery, UTM
2021 - BFM3.511, risograph commissioned for BlackFlash Magazine (2021)

Collections 

National Gallery of Canada
Aga Khan Museum
Scotiabank
Equitable Bank
Burnaby Art Gallery
Royal Bank of Canada
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Gowlings Law Firm
CIBC
Microsoft Art Collection
American Express
Global Affairs Canada
OCAD University