Afruz Amighi (b 1974, Iran) is the inaugural recipient of the Jameel Prize for Middle Eastern Contemporary art awarded by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London in 2009. Raised in New York by Jewish and Zoroastrian parents, she completed her BA in political science at Barnard College at Columbia University, before going on to complete her MFA at New York University.  Amighi has exhibited her work in the United States, London and the Middle East.

In 2011, she was granted the fellowship in sculpture by the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2013, Amighi’s work was commissioned for the 55^th Venice Biennale.  Her work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and The Devi Foundation, among others. She is currently working on a solo exhibition with Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai which will open in May of 2016. Amighi currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.