Brooklyn-based Tajik artist and writer Sabina Khorramdel (Rosas) was found dead in her room at a luxury wellness hotel in Water Mill, New York, on Monday, October 28. The 33-year-old was an apparent “victim of violence,” per a report from the Suffolk County Police Department.
The primary suspect, Thomas Gannon, reportedly confessed to her murder before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his Pennsylvania home.
Born in Tajikistan and displaced across Central Asia throughout her childhood due to civil war, Khorramdel came alone to New York City in 2009 at age 17 to pursue art. She eventually completed a Film and Media studies degree at Purchase College — a State University of New York (SUNY) — and embarked on various creative directions throughout her career. In addition to maintaining an intuitive painting practice, she and her friend Nazira Karimi co-produced a seven-channel video artwork “Hafta” (2024) as a commission for the 60th Venice Biennale.
In 2023, Khorramdel and Karimi co-founded Ruyò Journal, a platform for art theory and critical discourse revolving around film and visual arts across Central Asia. According to her website, the artist was also invested in sound art, meditation, and intuitive output informed by transcriptions of her surroundings.
“Driven by her incredible energy and vision, Sabina moved walls so that gardens could flourish, inviting everyone seeking light,” her colleagues at Ruyò Journal wrote in a statement announcing her death shared on Instagram. “She shared everything she had and supported all of us. “A beautiful soul and a gifted artist, she left an impactful legacy in the arts of Central Asia. The world feels empty without her.”
Many questions surround the circumstances of Khorramdel’s death as the autopsy report has yet to be published. The primary suspect, Gannon, a 56-year-old man from Wayne County, Pennsylvania, owned a tile company and was reportedly financing Khorramdel’s art career.
Reports indicate that Gannon left the hotel the morning Khorramdel was found, having taken a taxi from the Long Island resort to his Honesdale home some 200 miles away. The coroner’s report outlines that he confessed to the murder in a text message to a family member before ending his own life.
The nature of Gannon and Khorramdel’s relationship remains unclear. Elizabeth Phillips, a SUNY Purchase professor and mentor to Khorramdel, alleged to the New York Times that Gannon was the late artist’s boyfriend and benefactor, saying that they first became involved in 2021.
Phillips said that Gannon and Khorramdel traveled together on various retreats and excursions on his dime, and that he “showed an ardor and intensity that was unnerving,” warning Khorramdel to be safe if she chose to end the relationship. In August, Gannon donated $1,000 to Khorramdel’s GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to attend her first artist residency in Portugal meant to take place this month, captioning his donation with “You have an amazing gift and soon all the world will see. I love you❤️”
Neither Karimi nor Phillips immediately responded to Hyperallergic’s inquiries, nor did Khorramdel’s colleagues at Ruyò Journal, who put out a secondary Instagram statement decrying tabloid speculations and sensationalism around the murder.
“We want to make it clear that no family member or close friend of Sabina has spoken to any media outlets,” the publication’s statement reads. “Any information circulating from these sources is unverified and should not be trusted.”
