Ghazal Radpay was born in Tehran in 1966 and received her basic education there. Despite the fact that she wanted to continue her education in Iran, the undesirable atmosphere that existed in the universities at the time left her no choice but to go abroad. She went to France in 1986 and received her BFA and MFA from the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Nîmes, and also received a BA in Film Studies from Paul Valéry University in Montpellier.
Radpay who always considered herself belonging deeply to Iran returned there ten years later (in 1996) in order to retain her intrinsic and subjective connection with her homeland. Once there, she actively participated in the art scene for the next four years. She struggled to find solutions to the practical obstacles that she knew existed in the art milieu in Iran. During these years she had four solo exhibitions of her work in a setting outside a Tehran gallery space (orchard in Mardabad) in order to somehow circumnavigate the written and unwritten laws of the Ministry of Culture as well as the galleries. Her artwork consisted of photograms, installations of non-permanent sculptures, happenings, video and performance. She was successful in finding a following and to an extent was able to influence the prevailing norms in the Tehran art scene at the time. One of her main goals was to break down the invisible barriers that existed between the artists, galleries and the public. As well as calling into question firm, traditional and conservative beliefs towards the media, exhibition venues and ways of expressing art. Before leaving Iran again in 2000, her performances at 13 Vanak st. Gallery and Golestan Gallery both shook the Tehran art scene.

Her works during this time are a tribute to a close friend that she lost during the 8-year Iran-Iraq war and all those who during the years that Ghazal was out of the country also lost their lives in the war or suffered other unimaginable horrors.

Since the year 2000 Radpay has been consistently traveling back and forth between Paris and Tehran. She has had many exhibitions in France as well as in other countries. In 2003 she participated in both the Venice and Havana Biennials. In 2005 she was in the 3rd Biennial in Tirana (Albania) and the 7th Biennial in Sharjah and she was at the 15th Biennial in Sydney (Australia) in 2006.

Her work is in many art collections around the world including the National Museum of Modern Art at the Georges Pompidou Center and the Museum of the History of Immigration in Paris and the Modern Art Museum of Vienna (MUMOK).

Recently in her work Radpay has been focusing on roots, rootlessness and belonging. She points out that her main concern is belonging and not migration; things that are connected to language, culture, society and family. In contemporary life the definition of migration has changed. When we speak about migration, it is not in the sense of cutting off roots and replanting them in new soil. What we have in mind is creating links, adapting and settling into multi-dimensional conditions. This being too difficult a task transforms into a universal challenge for the artist.