Sofia Pashaei’s practice revolves around how memory and cultural belonging are formed through nostalgia. She approaches nostalgia not as a private emotion, but as something actively produced through images, rituals, and objects—a strategy for organizing life when stable structures of belonging have been disrupted. In this sense, nostalgia becomes more than memory; for Pashaei, it functions as a way of anchoring oneself in time and meaning. Born to Iranian parents and raised in Sweden, Pashaei inhabits an in-betweenness that shapes both her thinking and making. This condition carries a persistent sense of untranslatability and a heightened awareness of the self in relation to others.

Pashaei’s debut solo exhibition, Meaning in the off Hours, opened at Ballon Rouge in 2022, followed by her second solo exhibition, An Orphan in the Territory of Giants, at the gallery in 2024. In 2023, she received the Kells Collection Award at SWAB Barcelona for her solo presentation with Rafael Perez Hernando Gallery. She has since presented two duo shows in Belgium at Rufus Gallery in Ghent and Edji Gallery in Brussels (2025). Her work has also appeared in group exhibitions at Fondation Boghossian in Brussels and The Hole in New York. As an animation director, her short films have screened at major animation and film festivals worldwide.