The Iranian artist who found her ‘Rebirth’ in Malaysia

That may sound like an unlikely confession from an artist whose work is built on intricate geometric patterns, fine lines and painstaking precision. But for Maede, learning to accept imperfection has been one of the biggest transformations of her life.

“I was a person who would cry when I got a mark of 90 instead of 100,” she shared with FMT Lifestyle. Today, she can look at a painting, spot a mistake and say, “I’m happy with this mistake.”

That shift in perspective lies at the heart of “Rebirth – When Light, Poetry and Letters Awaken My Soul”, Maede’s first solo exhibition in Malaysia at Ruang Teduh Gallery. The exhibition brings together Persian calligraphy, miniature painting and tezhib, an ancient Iranian art of gilded, geometric ornamentation. However, the exhibition’s real subject is more personal: the woman Maede has become.

“Rebirth for me does not mean reincarnation …it means transformation,” she stressed.

The phoenix at the centre of one of her works titled “Rebirth” makes that idea tangible. A powerful symbol in Iranian culture, the phoenix represents renewal and wisdom. For Maede, it is also a self-portrait of sorts.

“My old self died and a new character rose from the midst of all the struggles and problems,” the 47-year-old said.

The transformation is not something Maede can pinpoint to a single moment. Rather, she described it as something that happened through years of living, painting, struggling and finding peace.

“I completely changed,” she said. “I always tell my friends that if you met me 15 years ago when I first moved to Malaysia, you wouldn’t recognise me as the person I am now.”

Much of that change happened in Malaysia. “When I arrived in Malaysia, believe me, I felt as if God had opened a shower of peace over me,” she recalled. “I felt that God was not far from me. He came closer to me. Now I don’t look up. I always look inside and talk to myself or my God.”

Painting became part of that inward conversation. Maede’s tezhib practice demands extraordinary concentration. The geometric patterns must be precise down to the smallest measurement, and when drawing certain fine lines, she holds her breath so her hand does not shake.

“In that moment, even if it is less than a second, I feel emptiness. It is like meditation for me,” she revealed.

It is also where her mathematical mind finds a natural home. Maede studied mathematics, programming and computing and later taught mathematics for 12 years in Iran. Her artistic master eventually told her that her mathematical thinking was an advantage in tezhib.

Yet the art that once demanded absolute precision has also taught her to let go.

“I was a perfectionist,” she said. “Now you can see a lot of mistakes in my work.” For Maia, that acceptance has become liberating. “It was the biggest thing that made me feel more free.”

Her relationship with Iran has changed too. “I have to study more about my heritage now,” she said, admitting she has found a deeper appreciation of her motherland’s history and culture while living away from it.

“Rebirth” is filled with those memories: Iranian poetry, birds and flowers, stories, architectural patterns and the colours of her mother’s antique carpet.

“I wanted to draw everything that I remember from Iran,” Maede said.

But the paintings are not simply pieces of Iran transplanted onto Malaysian soil. Fifteen years of living here have inevitably altered the way she sees colour, pattern and tradition.

Batik, Chinese and Indian influences have found their way into her visual language. One Baba-Nyonya collector even recognised familiar patterns in her work, prompting Maede to explore and incorporate those influences more consciously.

For her, “Rebirth” is therefore both a return and a departure … a way of remembering Iran while acknowledging the Malaysia that has changed her.

“Please don’t look at them only as paintings,” Maede said. “Look at them as the feelings of an artist who is homesick.”

For an artist who once hid her paintings under her bed, simply being willing to let people see them is itself a form of rebirth.

‘Rebirth – When Light, Poetry and Letters Awaken My Soul’ (now till Oct 3)

Ruang Teduh Gallery
Lot UG 31 & 32,
Menara Exchange,
106, Persiaran TRX
55188 Kuala Lumpur.

Follow Maede Hoseini Maia on Instagram.

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