Shapira is a first-generation American with an MFA in Painting from Boston University and an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art. He has taught and lectured at universities and galleries in the United States, England, and Australia. His work has been exhibited at the Danforth Museum of Art, Royal College of Art, and American gallery shows such as "Young Contemporaries" and "National Image," and is among collections at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Royal College of Art, London, and private collections. Shapira has held residencies in Milton Avery's studio in Gloucester, MA and most recently worked with an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, Australia. He is the recipient of the Endeavor International Research Scholarship (2007), Blanche E. Colman Award for Painting (2006), Ann Friedman Prize in Painting (2006), Constatin Alajalov Scholarship (2006), Louis P. Rabinovitz Art Award (2002), and the Deborah Josepha Cohen Memorial Award in Fine Arts (2001).