Iranian-born local artists translate verse to the visual in Under the Shade of the Lotus Tree

Paintings by Pari Azarm Motamedi and Rozita Moinishirazi explore Persian culture, poetry, and history in new West Vancouver Art Museum exhibition

BY GAIL JOHNSON

 Pari Azarm Motamedi, The Story of the City of Stones (detail), watercolour on paper, 2015. Photo courtesy of the artist. Photo by Hamid Zargarzadeh

West Vancouver Art Museum presents Under the Shade of the Lotus Tree: Pari Azarm Motamedi and Rozita Moinishirazi to April 1

THE LOTUS TREE is rooted in symbolism in Persian culture, representing a place of refuge, safety, and recovery. Inspired by Persian poetry, two Iranian-born, Vancouver-based artists explore the tree’s metaphors and themes of the Persian diaspora stemming from the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Shah in 1979 in a new exhibition at West Vancouver Art Museum.

Under the Shade of the Lotus Tree: Pari Azarm Motamedi and Rozita Moinishirazi features paintings by the two artists that illustrate recent and ancient Persian poetry and history.

“Both artists are deeply inspired by Persian poetry, both historical and contemporary, which often carries multiple meanings and veiled political commentary,” West Vancouver Art Museum curator Hilary Letwin tells Stir. “They work in fairly traditional materials—watercolour for Motamedi and reverse glass painting for Moinishirazi—but their processes involve an act of translation from verse to the visual. They also share an interest in translating traditional Persian symbols into modern forms.”

Motamedi, who has lived in West Vancouver for more than 30 years, was born and raised in Tehran. Having trained and worked as an architect and urban planner in Iran and England before moving to Canada in 1984, she has painted throughout most of her life, exhibiting at public and private venues in Iran, the U.S., and Canada; locally, her works have been shown at Museum of Anthropology at University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and University of Victoria. She also works in precious metals, creating jewellery, games, and furniture. A wearable chess set she designed and made won the 1994 DeBeers Award and was shown in major Canadian cities and publications.

Moinishirazi, a multi-disciplinary artist who has exhibited across Canada and abroad, lived in Iran until she was 21, experiencing the horrors of the Iran-Iraq war. She came to Canada via Germany in 1990, going on to earn a BFA at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Moinishirazi completed an MFA at the University of Tehran in 2006, later acquired her master’s of education at UVic, and now teaches at Emily Carr University.

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https://www.createastir.ca/articles/west-vancouver-art-museum-under-the-lotus-tree