My studies in fine arts, started in the field of architecture at the faculty of fine arts, Tehran University and urban planning at University College, London University. I later expanded my interests to include interior architecture, painting and works in precious metals.
For me, art is a process and a tool for self-understanding, for relating to people and to the beauty of nature and the magnificence of existence. It has been a form of therapy and an important element of a path for developing gratitude, humility and surrender to life and all that it brings.
Persian poetry inspires my work and guides me to see the beauty of language and the power of symbols and allusions to convey layers of meaning and depth in the experiences, processes and phenomena of life.
I aspire to paint this amazing, magnificent unpredictable, joyful and tragic poetry of life.
STATEMENT
Born in Iran, Pari Azarm Motamedi received her M.A. in Architecture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tehran University, 1968; and M.A. in Urban Development Planning, University College, London University. She has been a student of literature and art all her life. Her practice and interests for the past thirty years have been the translation and interpretation of contemporary Persian poetry into the English language and into the visual language of her paintings.
Inspired by the poetry of Mohammad Reza Shafii Kadkani, she has translated and painted the poems of this renowned contemporary poet. Sokhan Publishers in Tehran, published a collection of 40 paintings and 86 English translations by Azarm Motamedi, edited by Alan Williams, in May 2008. The book titled ‘In the Mirror of the Stream’ won the prestigious Parvin Etesami Award for Translation in 2010. She has also translated and painted the poems of Hafez as well as Sohrab Sepehri and Akhavan Saless, two other contemporary Persian poets. She has presented papers related to her translation and art practice in various academic institutions and has exhibited her work in North America and Iran.