Ghazaleh Rastgar, also known as Ghazaraza, is a multidisciplinary Iranian-Canadian artist based in Toronto. Born in Shiraz, Iran, and educated at OCAD University, she has worked as a full-time artist since 2016. Her practice spans painting, murals, textiles, and digital media.

Ghazaleh’s work draws from Persian visual culture, personal memory, and the lived experience of diaspora. Blending traditional motifs with contemporary techniques, she layers bold colour and expressive figures to explore themes of identity, belonging, and cultural inheritance. Her work is often informed by love, feminism, and spirituality, offering intimate reflections on what it means to live between worlds.

Alongside her studio practice, Ghazaleh has created public murals across Canada and internationally that centre identity, visibility, and storytelling in shared spaces. She has also been involved in curating and coordinating community arts programming, collaborating with organizations such as StreetARToronto and other public art initiatives, with a focus on community engagement, equity, and accessible creative expression.

Exhibitions

2025 So Far So Good Group Show at Isza Gallery - Toronto

2025 BLUSH Group Show at Micak Gallery - Aurora

2025 Being Scene Group Show by Workman Arts - Toronto

2024 Know Where Solo Exhibition at Isza Gallery - Toronto

2024 Being Scene 2024 by Workman Arts - Toronto

2023 Art Toronto with “The New Other“ - Toronto

2023 Femme Vie Liberte at Paris Museum of Modern Art - Paris

2023 Collective Arts Brew Series 24 Exhibition - Toronto

2022 Being Scene Group Show by Workman Arts – Toronto

2021 The Artist Project – Online Exhibition

2020 Feminist Art Festival at OCADU – Toronto

2018 Venus Rising Solo Show at Hashtag Gallery – Toronto

2018 You Should Come at Darling Mansion (Sponsored event) – Toronto

2016 Society of Illustrators – New York; Comic and Cartoon Annual - NYC

Clients

  • Doctors Without Borders

  • Giphy

  • TIFF

  • Lavazzo

  • City of Brampton

  • Weston Village BIA

  • City of Brantford

  • StreetARToronto – City of Toronto

  • Historica Canada

  • EastEnd Arts

  • Mount Pleasant BIA

  • The Junction Bia

  • Bell Canada

  • Fast Company

  • Lenny Letter

  • Hemisphere Magazine

  • HotDocs

Publications

2023 Euronews
2021 CBC Arts
2019 CBC Arts
2018 She Does The City
2018 Streeter
2018 Paper Darts
2017 Haaretz
2017 HuffPost
2016 The Cut

Awards & Grants

2024 Ontario Arts Council Grant
2021 American Illustration 40
2018 Toronto Arts Council Grant
2018 American Illustration 37 (Online)
2016 Society of Illustrators