The artist’s video work is inspired by her own world: family relationships, memories, and territorial displacements are subjects that feed into her work. Akbari started her career as a painter in 1991, and has featured in several solo and collective shows. She had her first contact with film in that same year, when she served as assistant director and cinematographer in a number of documentaries. In 2002, she, her son Amin Maher, and her sister Roya Akbari acted out parts of their own lives in the film Ten, by Abbas Kiarostami, shown in that year’s edition of the Cannes Festival. In 2003 she co-directed the documentary Crystal. In 2004 she wrote, acted and directed her first film, 20 Fingers, which won the Best Digital Film Prize at the Venice Film Festival. From 2004 to 2007 she featured in several festivals, including Locarno, and had video art pieces shown at museums like the Tate Gallery. She also shot a sequel to Kiarostami’s film, titled 10+4, shown at the San Sebastian and Cannes festivals. From 2007 through 2010, she created photograph-based work. In 2010, she directed 30 minutes to 6, a documentary on the execution of a minor in Iran. In the following year, she left her native country due to divergences with the political regime, and moved to London. There, she completed the film From Tehran to London.