Maryam Nazari
Multidisciplinary Artist, Performance Designer/Artist,
Artistic Consultant, Curator and Researcher

Artistic individual with exceptional visualisation skills and eye for design. Creates aesthetically-pleasing compositions to capture audiences' vision. Qualified performance designer and individual with background in live performances. Creates interactive experiences with improvisation and personal talent. Demonstrates cultural awareness and responds well to feedback. Creative designer and energetic self-starter and team builder with broad experience in design thinking; Performance design, sound design, video art and live performance. Flexible, patient and hardworking. Dedicated to implement quality design to fulfils vision of the project. Navigates high-stress situations and achieves goals on time.

Maryam is a Persian performance artist/maker and multidisciplinary artist based in London. Born in Tehran/Iran 1990.

She has started to learn music from the age 8 and she attended Art and Architecture University and graduated with Bachelor in Music.

Then, she moved to London and graduated with an MA in Performance Design and Practice at Central Saint Martins /University of the Arts London.

Maryam is doing her PhD at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London to complete her research and practice in performance art and multidisciplinary art. She focused on "Persian-Iranian Performative Ceremonies, rituals and Tradition" which is an exploration of the importance of sound and the audience in Iranian performative ceremonies and rituals and the development of an experimental approach to performance art and multidisciplinary art .

She is the core member of Tse Tse Fly Middle East curatorial team- Tse Tse Fly Middle East is a registered Community Interest Company (based in London), a non-profit arts organisation and curatorial platform that draws attention to human rights, censorship and social issues via live events, workshops and interventions.-She is also working as an artistic consultant.

Her works are a combination of sonic culture and visual culture which she calls acoustic scenography or acoustic/sonic as scenography. As a part of her practice, she intends to transpose the ears and eyes. She tries to use the sound art/design or acoustic and sonic imagination as a concept not an object for the performance making. Maryam's areas of interest include social and political issues.

Her recent projects have included commissions from the Royal Albert Hall (London), Palais de Fetes (in Strasbourg), Tehran Museum of Contemporary arts and Tehran Music Museum.

Maryam says:

I was born into a country where things are complicated. For as long as I can remember we have had to lead two lives. One of them is our social life and the other is our personal life, or it is better to call it our private life. We cannot be the same person in society as we are in our homes. In particular, women who don’t believe in Islam or in wearing the Hijab have to wear the Hijab in public places in Iran. Drinking and selling alcoholic drinks is not permitted, but we do drink in our homes and in other private places. Any partners who don’t get married cannot officially stay in the same room in a hotel, but, as in other countries, many partners live together in their flats without officially getting married. We spend much time on the weekends in our private parties and private places, being ourselves and not the person the government wants us to be. All in all, with this level of complexity and paradox, it is not easy to be an uncomplicated person. And I do not want to use the word COMPLICATED as a compliment.

This word made my life hard on many occasions. When you are a child, everything that you can see around you looks new. Now imagine a child who has to wear her scarf when she goes to school from age seven, and every week in religious studies classes the teacher tells her that the only way to be a good woman is to wear the Hijab and pray every day, and only then will you go to heaven. Too, if you don’t wear your Hijab and don’t pray, you will go straight to hell when you die. On the other hand, when that little girl returns home and tells this to her mother, her mother will say ‘your teacher is wrong, do not believe her, you will not go to hell’. Therefore, as a child, slowly you realise that there is a big difference between the inside and outside of your home, and you need to consider and understand this issue and the reasons for it.

All in all, that situation makes me an artist who sometimes feels that I HAVE to think of the bigger issues and subjects and transfers them through my art.

Education

PhD in Performance Studies (2022–2026)

Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, UK

Funded by the Research Department
Research focus: Persian Carpets as Sites for Storytelling, Memory, and Artistic

Investigation
MA in Performance Design and Practice (2015–2017)

Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, London, UK

BA in Music (2009–2013)
Tehran Azad University, Tehran, Iran

• Specialization: Iranian Traditional Instruments (Tar and Tombak)

Key Achievements and Leadership Roles

Co-founder & Director, Mar-Art (2020–Present): Curated and organized international exhibitions in collaboration with cultural institutions, including the French Embassy in Iran.
Artistic Consultant(2018–2019): Partnered with Amir Konjani and renowned institutions such as Jerwood Arts and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Core Member, Tse Tse Fly Middle East (2018–2023): Pioneered creative projects merging art and activism.

Selected Exhibitions, Screenings, and Performances 2024

“Agha (Mr.) Esmaeil”: Vision Canvas Art Fair, Venice, Italy
“Agha (Mr.) Esmaeil”: London Contemporary Art Fair, London, UK

2023
“Birth to Death”: Xinjiang Biennale, China 2021
“Encounter”: Safavi Mission, Isfahan, Iran (Curated by Mar-Art)
“Agitation”: Collaborative video art, Château de Fresne-Saint-Mamés, France

2020
“Patient Zero”: Online Solo Exhibition, Aknoon Art Gallery, Isfahan, Iran 2019
“Men Do Not Nourish”: Grace Exhibition Space, New York, USA
“This Body Is All Bodies”: Solo Performance, Yinka Shonibare’s Studio, London, UK
“Men Do Not Nourish” from “The Art of Slaughter Series”, Screened at The Museum

Human Achievement. Austin, Texas, US

2018
“Birth to Death”: Screened at Harvesting Souls, Germany & Contemporary Venice Art Show, Italy

2017
“Under the Counter”: Designer, Performer, Composer and Sound Designer. Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
“This Body Is All Bodies”: Solo Performance. Designer, Performer, Costume Designer, Composer and Sound Designer. Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Iran
“Rondo... Rondo... Rondo...”, Designer, Director, Performer, Composer and Sound designer. Kings Cross Platform Theatre, London, Uk

2016
“Dream”: Inteatro (Villa Nappi), Polverigi, Italy
“49”: Solo Performance, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London, UK
“CCTV”: Palais des Fêtes, Strasbourg, France
“Third of May 1808”: Designer, Performer and Composer. Solo Performance, London

Drama Centre, Central Saint Martins College of Art, London, UK

2013–2014

“Give Me Your Hands for Some Minutes”: Thirty Artists, Thirty Days Festival, Tehran, Iran
“Identifying of a Famous Group”: Thirty Artists, Thirty Days Festival, Tehran, Iran

Selected Collaborations as Musician, Sound Designer, and Performer 2016–2018:

“I Had to Trust My Fall” (Rojin Shafei): Composer and Sound Designer, Montreal, Canada
“Plastic Life” and “In Out and Around”: Composer and Performer, London, UK
“Candy” (Directed by Chensy Guan): Composer and Sound Designer; screened at the London Short Film Festival and London Fashion Film Festival

Composer for

“These Are Our Friends Too” music album, London, UK

Residencies

Yinka Shonibare’s Studio Residency: London, UK (2019)
Watermill Center Summer Program: Shortlisted Artist, New York, USA (2018)
Inteatro, Villa Nappi: Polverigi, Italy (2016 &2017)
Palais des Fêtes de Strasbourg: Strasbourg, France (2016)

Publications and Media Features

Featured in Al-Tiba9 Contemporary Art Review (2024), Barcelona, Spain
Featured in 101 Contemporary Artist and More: Volume 6 (2024) Published by Collect

Art, Tbilisi, Georgia
Interviewed by LandEscape Art Review (2020)
Interviewed by ITSLIQUID (2018)

Selected Talks and Teaching

Lecturer in Performance Art and Studies: Tehran University, Iran (2019–2021)
Guest Lecture: “Live Art in COVID-19 Time”, Central Saint Martins, London (2020)
Workshop Leader: “The Art of Erosion”, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

(2019)
Guest Lecturer: “Aesthetic of Disinterest”, Stroud Art Space, Gloucestershire, UK (2017)

Skills

Performance Design, Directing, Sound Design, Video Art
Proficient in Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Videography, and Photography