AUC Visual Arts Professor Featured in Upcoming PBS Documentary
Maryam Taghavi, Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of the Arts, is featured in an upcoming PBS American Masters short documentary titled 'Maryam Taghavi: Estranged Letters.'
The Visual Arts Program is proud to highlight Maryam Taghavi, Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of the Arts, who will be featured in an upcoming PBS American Masters short documentary titled 'Maryam Taghavi: Estranged Letters.' The film will livestream on November 6 on the PBS YouTube Channel.
Directed by Assia Boundaoui, the documentary follows the Iranian-American artist in the lead-up to her first major solo exhibition. Through her abstract works on perspective and the Islamic occult, Taghavi explores themes of the unseen and the emotional distance of migration, weaving together sculpture and painting to question how meaning and presence are constructed.
Taghavi, who has lived in Chicago for nearly a decade and now resides in Cairo, has built an impressive international career as both an artist and educator. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University and a Master of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), where she received the New Artist Society Scholarship.
Her multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, performance, and installation, with exhibitions at leading institutions including LAXART, Queens Museum, Exterressa Museum, Chicago Cultural Center, and the Driehaus Museum. In 2023, her sculptural work was permanently commissioned by the City of Chicago for O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 5.
With PBS’s global reach, 'Maryam Taghavi: Estranged Letters' offers a remarkable platform to showcase her creative journey and celebrate AUC’s growing presence in the international arts scene.