Exhibition: The Measure of Gold

Exhibition: The Measure of Gold

31st Mar 2026

The Measure of Gold reflects on how value is shaped through experience, memory and cultural inheritance. Working with layered pigment, script and gold leaf, Sara Shamsavari treats gold not as ornament but as a material that carries both warmth and complexity. Element 79, and the year of her birth, becomes a point where the elemental meets the personal, linking geology, biography and the long histories of Persian visual culture. In these works, gold’s luminosity is balanced by marks of endurance and quiet resilience. The surfaces invite slower looking, revealing gestures, revisions and traces of time. Rather than signalling allure, gold becomes a companion to remembrance, asking what remains when appearance gives way to the deeper measures of worth.

Sara Shamsavari is a British-Iranian interdisciplinary artist, designer and lecturer whose practice spans photography, painting and socially engaged art. Having survived childhood illness, war and displacement, her work is grounded in a profound understanding of fragility, resilience and transformation. Through themes of identity, inclusion and belonging, she offers poetic yet political reflections on contemporary culture. Shamsavari also teaches at Central Saint Martins and Chelsea College of Arts. sarashamsavari.com 

Location: The Art Space, Cass Art Kingston

Dates: 

  • Exhibition runs: 1st - 31st March 2027

Admission: FREE

Please note, this exhibition takes place on the first floor and there is no step-free access.