Maryam Taghavi is an Iranian Canadian artist and educator currently based between Chicago and Cairo. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was the recipient of the New Artist Society Scholarship. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. She taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for several years before becoming an associate professor of practice at The American University in Cairo.

Taghavi has exhibited her work widely, including the recent commission A Spell for Passage, permanently installed at O’Hare International Airport Terminal 5, Chicago, and her solo exhibitions Chicago Works: Maryam Taghavi at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and A Leap Has No Return at Blanc Gallery, Chicago. Her work has been featured in prominent publications such as Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, e-Flux, Canvas, Chicago Magazine and NewCity, where she was included in the “Artists’ Artists” Top 5 list. Additionally, she was featured in PBS’s American Masters series, with a documentary on her practice premiering at the Chicago Film Festival in 2024.

Taghavi’s interdisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, installation and performance, rooted in a deep fascination with how language shapes perception and cultural memory.