Maje Motalebi

Maje Motalebi is an Iranian artist, writer, and translator, born in Tehran in 1985, who is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Trained in fine art in London, St Petersburg, and Dubai, she brings literature and visual art into dialogue. Her compositions revisit historical figures and universal icons through cultural memory and a distinctly contemporary perspective.

Her mixed-media paintings often revisit Renaissance masterpieces and universal icons. By changing scale, context, and attributes, she does not simply copy the past; she places it in conversation with present-day questions. Color, collage, and graphic interventions give historical figures a renewed autonomy.

Motalebi has received awards in Italy for graphic work and recognition for her books. This dual identity as writer and painter gives every piece particular narrative depth. Her compositions attract through immediate presence, then hold the gaze through their layers of reference and the subtlety of their reinterpretation.