Melika Forouzan
Calgary, Alberta
ARTIST BIO
Melika Forouzan was born in Tehran, Iran, and holds a BFA in Photography and an MFA in Fine Arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran. She later earned a second MFA in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Calgary. Forouzan has lived in Canada for the past five years, where she continues to develop her artistic practice while actively participating in the local arts community.
Her work has been presented in multiple exhibitions spanning photography, painting, and printmaking. As a multidisciplinary artist, she moves fluidly between media and techniques, while remaining deeply engaged with themes of place attachment, memory, and belonging. In addition to her studio practice, she has authored several articles on photography, including explorations of family photography and its connections to broader narratives of social history.
PROJECT STATEMENT
“The Flowers I Have Never Sent is a photo-based printmaking project created through a combination of photo-lithography and chine-collé on paper. The work grew out of a time when the Iranian government shut down the internet during periods of political unrest. For me, this blackout was more than a technical disruption—it was the painful cutting of a lifeline between two worlds: the life I was building as an immigrant in Calgary, Canada, and the family and loved ones I could no longer reach in Iran.
During this period, I worked in a flower shop, preparing bouquets and writing card messages for strangers to send to their loved ones. Each day, I became a messenger for others, while my own messages home failed to travel. This contradiction weighed heavily on me: I was helping others stay connected through flowers and words, yet I could not send even a simple greeting to my sister.
I began to notice the flowers left unsold in the shop, slowly wilting and approaching death. They felt like symbols of postponed gestures—messages that should have been delivered but were never sent. I brought some of these fading flowers home and photographed them, combining their presence with the fragments of written messages I had once transcribed for customers. They became metaphors for the care and love I wanted to send across borders but could not.
This project is not only about a single moment; it reflects an ongoing condition. Each time political pressure builds in Iran, internet shutdowns return, and countless connections are cut. For immigrants, this rupture is a recurring wound—living between two worlds, always at risk of losing touch. Through these fragile prints, I attempt to hold that experience of absence, longing, and persistence.” – Melika Forouzan
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that the Exposure Photography Festival is situated on land adjacent to where the Bow River meets the Elbow River. The traditional Blackfoot name of this place is “Moh’kins’tsis”, which we now call the City of Calgary. This is the traditional Treaty 7 territory of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. It is home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland. We honour and acknowledge all Nations, who live, work and play in Moh’kins’tsis, help steward this land, and honour and celebrate this territory.