About me
Maryam Firuzi, the Iranian Visual Artist in an interview with Elles x Paris Photo in 2021, says: “I am convinced that mediums are related to each other. Persian Calligraphy taught me discipline and dedication. Painting, freedom of expression, and literature, the right way to develop and articulate my ideas,”
She learned calligraphy in a specialized form since she was a child in the Iranian Calligraphy Association, she learned painting from a young age under the supervision of various teachers, and after much confusion in the world of art and literature, she went to Tehran University of Arts to study cinema. After two years, she chose the field of screenwriting because of her passion for Persian literature and poetry from childhood, and in her postgraduate course, she was able to focus on filmmaking and later “film study” by writing her thesis on self-reflexivity in cinema.
Maryam was born in the darkest era of contemporary Iran. She mentions art as the only way to express herself from her childhood until now. For her, art is a way to think and reach her most inaccessible inner feelings. Focused on themes such as cultural crises, gender issues, and identity problems, her creations all embody expressions of self-reflexive thoughts. From her point of view, Iran is the boundary between the civilization of the West and the glory of the East, and for this reason, it has always been a place of many conflicts. These conflicts have complicated the possibility of dialogue about gender, identity, and cultural issues, and art is a way to enter these complexities.
Her first series, Reading for Tehran Streets, was influenced by different art forms; from cinematic storytelling to Persian poetry, and painting. She has twice received the Peace Medal of the Global Peace photo Award (2018 &2022). Her works have been exhibited in different Photo festivals and solo and group exhibitions like the La Gacilly photo festival in France, Art & Folk Craft Museum in the United States, Freundeskreis WillyBrandtHaus” Berlin, the IWPA tour exhibition in cities like Dubai, Paris, Singapore, Marseille, Tokyo, Geneva, Ameria. She was the laureate of the IWPA award 6th edition (2022)