Alexandra Karakashian was born in 1988 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Karakashian obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2011, where she was awarded both the Judy Steinberg Painting Prize and the Simon Gerson Distinction Award. She went on to graduate with a Masters degree in Fine Art from the same institution in 2015. Karakashian was an artist in residence at Capo d’Arte in Gagliano del Capo, Italy in 2016. The residency culminated in a solo presentation, self-titled Alexandra Karakashian, at the Villa Medici in Gagliano del Capo.

In 2021 Karakashian presented her latest solo exhibition titled Consolations at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa. Further solo exhibitions include: A rhythm for falling, at Sabrina Amrani Gallery in Madrid, Spain (2019); here they passed at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town and In on itself, at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery in Seattle, USA, both in 2018; unbecoming, at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg to coincide with the release of her self-titled publication (2017); Passage, a special project at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, UK, and GROUND at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, both in 2016.

Notable group exhibitions include: Matereality, a group exhibition at Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, as well as A Show of Solidarity at SMAC in Cape Town, in support of the South African Solidarity Fund during a nationwide enforced lockdown, both in 2020; Inner Landscapes at Galleria Anna Marra in Rome, Italy; Material Insanity, at MACAAL in Marrakech, Morocco; and Filling in the Gaps, at Iziko South African National Museum in Cape Town, South Africa, all in 2019; Ravelled Threads, at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York City, USA; and A Letter to My 22-year-old Self at BKhz Studio & Gallery in Johannesburg, both in 2018.

Karakashian’s works have been included in group presentations at, among others: Art Basel Hong Kong and the Tapei Dangdai in Taiwan, both in 2020; as well as ACROlisboa in Portugal; ACROmadrid in Spain, Artissima in Turin, Italy, and Art Dubai, UAE, all in 2019.

In 2023, Karakashian will present a solo exhibition at SMAC Gallery, in Cape Town, South Africa.