Maryam Tavaf is a multidisciplinary Iranian artist who lives and works in Montreal. Coming from a musical background, she pursued an apprenticeship in painting with teachers Mr. Aydin Aghdashlou, Mr. Ahmad Vakili and Mr. Ahmad Amin Nazar, Iradj Shafei and Rouin Pakbaz in Tehran. Nourished by various techniques and disciplines, the artist developed a realistic painting which received significant public recognition in Iran as part of the Persepolis exhibition (Galerie Seyhoun, Tehran, 2000). And these accomplishments were in time of war (1980-1988) while art was banned from university programmes and censorship was imposed on all artistic activity.

Maryam Tavaf nevertheless chose to shake up her artistic approach and give new impetus to her creation by turning to expressionist painting and then to abstraction, also exploring collage and calligraphy. She was part of major exhibitions presenting contemporary Iranian painting (Still life, Iranian contemporary painting, Tehran, 2007; Third International Biennial of Contemporary Painting of the Islamic World, 2005) and several individual exhibitions were dedicated to her in Tehran (Les angoisses , 2001; Esprit de la nature, Galerie Etemad, 2005; Prayers, 2009). In 2010 she arrived in Quebec. She took photographs alongside her paintings.

She draws inspiration from Persian culture and the history of Iran, her country of origin, to create works with multiple forms where painting and poetry, objects and photographic images intersect.

Continuing her abstract approach, Maryam Tavaf integrates calligraphy and Persian poetry, from the poet Rumi. Pictorial and literary languages meet, breathing new symbolism into its creation. From now on, bodies become letters and letters become bodies. She develops them in a range of warm colors which in turn gives way to a purification of forms. His sober paintings combine the artist’s cultural narrative with the symbolic force of universal narratives. With photography, the artist pursues, following his canvases, timeless images that raise possible messages from the chaos of the world. Inspired by the holographic world of Talbot, she captures sometimes surreal, sometimes minimalist shots that reveal the full potential of reflections and shadows to create spaces that are both real and virtual.

Maryam Tavaf knew the throes of war and her procession of misery, where the dance of bombs sowing death and terror made her live the loss of loved ones. Its creation stands as a permanent battle against human destruction and political theaters marked by injustice and drama.

His works have been presented in Montreal at major events at the Palais des Congrès, the City Hall, the Montreal North Art Symposium and in several private galleries. Maryam Tavaf also has several artistic implications for the benefit of NGOs and the United Nations High Commission and as part of UNESCO’s International Day of Diversity at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, within the artistic community Iranian, Quebec and Canadian. She has been the subject of numerous articles in the Montreal press at Radio-Canada. Her works are part of several public and private collections in Quebec and abroad.

She also has over 20 years of experience in teaching the arts, such as at Dehkhoda School (2012-2016) and the Collège de Montréal (2019-2022), as well as leading groups of elderly people and people in difficulty in an art therapy setting.

She is currently working on a short film denouncing the injustices in the middle east, following a residency and the MAI accompanying program grant, Montreal intercultural arts.