Ava Shojaei
[BFA Visual Studies, 2nd year]
Living Room Floor, acrylic paint, 20” x 16”, 2025.
My art is mostly a reflection of my life as an Iranian living in Canada, usually enriched with my culture, art styles and poetry of Persian descent, and political concepts of the Country Iran itself. Aiming to use my art to speak out about issues not usually talked about, or aspects of Iran that are never shown in the media. I really enjoy making work with depths of meaning and passion, as it expresses who I am as an individual.
Living Room Floor, 2025.
This is a painting of the Persian rug in my home. Persian rugs are a substantial part of Iranian culture, and they make me feel at home. It was important to me to try to capture the intricate designs by slowly building up layers of the rug’s details.
Life of the Asiatic Cheetah, Magazine collage and acrylic paint, 24.5” x 24”, 2025.
Life of the Asiatic Cheetah, 2025.
This piece represents the political state of Iran through magazine photos of war and violence, contrasted with the Asiatic cheetah, an endangered species found only in Iran. The cheetah symbolizes the resilience of the Iranian people, and the Persian words (the native language of Iran) in the background form a poem about giving one's soul and body to live life fully. Each element corresponds to the others and to the oppression the Iranian people endure.