Maedeh Asgharpour is a creative graphic design artist transplanted from Iran and is now living and working on the West Coast in California. She holds a Master of Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Tehran and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Practice from the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication (ATEC) at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), USA.
Her works explore the psychological and emotional aspects that surface in her processing of displacement. Her writings and illustrations complement each other in a poetic fusion to express such sentiments in narrative ways that can seem ambiguous or obscure at first glance, yet immerse the viewer into an atmosphere of wonderment and possibility. Her obsession with design and storytelling has always been a prominent directive in her creative works and translations.
“Immigrants face challenges that have long-lasting effects. Many Iranian students in the US have not seen their families for more than five years because of their visa situation. If there is a way to express the feelings rooted in those experiences, others might understand how immigrants feel about the world. I express the lack of a normal life next to my parents, culture, and the place where I grew up with my poem and with the creation of my works that originate from this emotional void. For me, taking photos of birds on trees, buildings, and wires could fulfill a feeling of emptiness. I had no idea that, later, a part of my life could be similar to a migrant bird. Migration is the turning point in many birds’ lives. I have always been amazed by their ability to withstand extreme weather conditions and lack of food. Responding to a particular subject can influence changes in one’s life. Poetically, when I immigrated, I faced all the hardships of a bird’s life as well. The artworks inspired by those birds on the wire are symbolic of my experiences as an immigrant.” __Maedeh Asgharpour
Her works have been featured and won awards at national and international festivals and exhibitions. She won the first and second prizes in the POP-UP Locker Exhibition, “Freedom of expression” in UTD, and the Best Graphic Art, ‘2020 HINDSIGHT’ at the 6th annual Persian Art Exhibition, Irving Art Association in Texas. Her work was selected as one of the top 10 finalists in “IV International Skylight Prize Illustration, SkyLight 2017” in Colombia. Recently, she participated in a novel sculpture installation by the ATEC LightSquad from The University of Texas at Dallas, which was installed at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, Texas. Her works have been shown in several solo and group exhibitions in countries including the United States, Iran, France, and Colombia. She has illustrated children’s books and magazines, and her works have been published in the Graphic Wood Book by Rasm publications.