Event Type : Exhibition

In Persian culture the lotus tree represents a place of refuge, a metaphor for safety and recovery. Join West Vancouver Art Museum Curator Hilary Letwin in conversation with artists Pari Azarm Motamedi and Rozita Moini-Shirazi as they discuss the paintings featured in the exhibition Under the Shade of the Lotus Tree showing at the Museum from January 25 to April 1, 2023.

Pari Azarm Motamedi, who has lived in West Vancouver for over 30 years, was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She studied and worked as an architect and urban planner in Iran and England before moving to Canada in 1984. Azarm Motamedi has painted for most of her life, with work exhibited at public and private venues in Iran, the USA, and Canada, including at the University of Victoria, the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University. She also works in precious metals, creating jewelry, games, and furniture. A wearable chess set she designed and made won the DeBeers Award in 1994 and was shown in major Canadian cities and publications.

Rozita Moini-Shirazi is a multi-disciplinary artist. Having lived in Iran until the age of 21, she experienced the horrors of the Iran-Iraq war. She immigrated from Iran to Germany in 1984, settling in Canada in 1990. She studied Communication Design in Germany and continued her education at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 2003, where she earned a BFA. Returning to Iran, she completed an MFA at the University of Tehran in 2006. As an art educator, Rozita completed her MEd at the University of Victoria. She currently teaches at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Moini-Shirazi has exhibited her work widely across Canada and abroad.

Dr. Hilary Letwin gained her PhD in Art History from Johns Hopkins University in 2013. She has held Curatorial Fellowships at the British Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art. Recent projects include Cornelia Hahn Oberlander: Genius Loci (2020); Design for Living: West Coast Modern Homes Revisited (2019); Saints, Sinners and Souvenirs: Italian Masterworks on Paper (2019); and Molly Lamb Bobak: Talk of the Town (2018). She currently works as the Museum Administrator/Curator at the West Vancouver Art Museum.

In partnership with the West Vancouver Art Museum