MARIAM AZIZA STEPHAN
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BIO / CV

Picture
 Mariam Aziza Stephan (b.1972) is a first generation Afghan-German American painter using landscape to explore themes of loss. Landscapes reflect what we value or squander, they embody states of psychological, political, and environmental upheaval. Stephan's landscapes do not represent a single place rather an aggregate of sites of upheaval, destruction, no-go zones and those moving in that direction. 

" I use landscape and abstraction as metaphors of deracination tied to both involuntary and voluntary migration, disempowerment, and social and environmental degradation. Just as in Francisco Goya’s “Disasters of War” etchings, it is not the war that is so unsettling but rather the visible effects on the flesh and the manifest inner psyche of individuals. I attempt to individualize the landscape as portraits carrying the scars of their histories in haunting and stark images. My paintings explore a tension between the recognition and formlessness of images. Being able to name particular images as metonymies of destruction creates landmarks that are not only geographical references but also biographical and personal scars. As a counterpoint to recognizable imagery, the physicality of the paint in rhythmic marks and spatial shifts visualizes sounds of mourning: clawing, screeching, howling, whimpering. My work interlaces our bodies with the Earth as inseparable fates and our treatment of each as parallel narratives."


Stephan received awards including the 2018 North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship, a 2010-11 Fulbright Scholar to Egypt, and currently serves as Professor in Painting at UNC Greensboro. She lives in Greensboro, NC.
Solo Exhibitions
2021                 
Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss, Exhibit D: Aftermath, No. 3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works, Beacon, NY
2019                 Exit North, El Horreya Center for Creativity, Alexandria, Egypt
                         Hatched in the Drift, Collaborative project with Poet Julia Johnson, No.3 Reading Room and Photo Book Works, Beacon, NY
                         Seasons for Ibrahim, Public Video Art Installation, Block2, Raleigh
                         In the arches, we cave,  Artspace, Raleigh, NC
2018                 In the Middle of Far Away, Henry Zarrow Art Center, Tulsa OK
                         The World and Other Worlds, Greensboro Project Space, NC
2017                 Swing shift, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA
                         Mariam Stephan: Paintings and Drawings, Hastings Gallery, Sandhills Community College, NC
2015                 Shifting Undercurrents, Kamal Khalifa Gallery, Gezira Art Center, Cairo, Egypt
                         Aftermath, KNOX Gallery, Monterey Library, Monterey, MA
2013                 Boat / Scape, Project Room, The Painting Center, NYC
2009                 Paintings, Elon University Gallery, Elon, NC
                         Convening In-Between, Eichold Gallery, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL
2005                 Paintings, Olin Gallery, Roanoke College, Salem VA
2004                 Paintings, Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
 
Group Exhibitions
2020                 Escapes and Revelations: 2018-19 NC Artist Fellows, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art -SECCA, Winston-Salem, NC
2017                 A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA
                         Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2012                 Today’s Visual Language: Southern Abstraction, A Fresh Look, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile AL
                         Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2011                 2010 International Ceramic Symposium Exhibition, Fustat Art Center, Cairo, Egypt
2010                 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2009                 UNCG Faculty Exhibition, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
                         Paradigms, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis MN
2008                 Color Key, The Painting Center, curated by Patrick Webb, NYC, NY

                         Pierogi 2000, Flat Files, Brooklyn, NY (ongoing inclusion)                         
                         War, Madness, and Delusion
, Andover Newton Theological School
                         Newton Centre, MA, curated by W. James Herbert
                         Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2007                 Bowery Gallery Juried Show, Juror: John Walker, New York, NY
                         Equivalents, San Francisco Studio School 1st Annual National Juried
                         Competition, San Francisco, CA
                         Wish You Were Here: work by Ox-bow Artists in Residence, Holland Area Arts Council, Holland, MI
2006                 Pinch Hitters, SPACE, Pittsburgh PA
                         Art on Paper Biennial, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2005                 Abstraction Obstruction: Working the Meridians, SOIL Gallery, Seattle WA
2004                 Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
 
Collections
 
Raleigh Municipal Art Collection, North Carolina
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Cairo, Egypt
 
Grants / Awards
2018                 North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship 
                         Kohler International Travel Award, UNC Greensboro
                         Dean’s Research/ Creative Initiative Award, College of Visual and Performing Arts, UNC Greensboro
2017                 Best of Show, A Sense of Place, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA
                         Dean’s Research/ Creative Initiative Award, College of Visual and Performing Arts, UNC at Greensboro
                         Scholars Travel Award, UNC at Greensboro
2015                 Kohler International Travel Award, UNC at Greensboro
                         Scholars International Travel Award, UNC at Greensboro
2010-11            Fulbright Scholars Research Award, Painting Bridging Time: The Egyptian Fayum Mummy Portraits, Cairo, Egypt
2009                 Teaching Excellence Award, UNCG College of Arts and Sciences
2004                 Summer Excellence Grant, UNC at Greensboro
 
Residencies
2018                 AiR DRAWinternational, Caylus, France
2010                 2010 International Ceramic Symposium, Fayum, Egypt
2007                 Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residencies, Saugatuck, Michigan
                         Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
 
Visiting Artist Lectures
2019                 University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK
2017                 Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, NC
2012                 Painting Bridging Time, Gatewood Lecture Series, Weatherspoon Art Museum, UNC Greensboro
2009                 Elon University, Elon, NC
                         Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL
                         University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
                         Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
2007                 Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residencies, Saugatuck, MI 
2005                 Roanoke College, Salem, VA, Lecture in conjunction with exhibition
2004                 Art on Paper, Panel discussion, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC


Periodicals
2019                 Hatched in the Drift, Works on Paper by Mariam Aziza Stephan and Poems by Julia Johnson, Traffic St. Press
2011                 الخيال,  Cairo, Egypt, January 2011, review of 2010 International Ceramic symposium by Ibrahim Ghazala
2010                 International Ceramic Symposium Exhibition Catalogue, produced by the Ministry of Culture, Egypt
2009                 Press-Register, Mobile. AL, March 29, review by Thomas Harrison 
2006                 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 27, review by Kurt Shaw
                         Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 12, review by Terry Young

2002                 MFA Catalog, June, essay by Rod Slemmons
                         Art Papers Magazine, July / August, review by Jill Conner Seattle Times, April 14, review by Matthew Kangus
                         The Stranger, December 21-27, review by Emily Hall 

Professional Experience
2020-                            Professor, Painting, UNC at Greensboro
2010- 2021                   Associate Professor, Painting, UNC at Greensboro
2004-2010                    Assistant Professor, Painting, UNC at Greensboro
2004                             Adjunct Faculty, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
2003                             Adjunct Faculty, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN
2001-02                        Instructor, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 


 
UNCG Service
2018-19                        Co-director, Upstairs @GPS: Contemporary Issues in Art Discussion Series, Greensboro Project Space
2012- 18                       Director of Graduate Studies, Art Department
2015-16                        Coordinator, Creative Arts Network (CAN), Messenger Project Director
2014-15                        Co-director, Center for Creative Writing in the Arts
2009-2015                    Board Member, Center for Creative Writing in the Arts
 

Education       
MFA, Painting                          2002     University of Washington, Seattle, WA
BFA, Painting and Drawing     1995     Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MN
Fellowship                               1994     L’Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy
 
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