The Architecture of Silence

Acrylic on Canvas
Contemporary urban atmospheric abstraction
unfolds through layered acrylic washes, gestural textures, and softly eroded surfaces. Suspended between construction and ruin, the staircase becomes a quiet metaphor for memory, ascending, fading, and reforming within time.

Warm earth pigments dissolve into violet and shadowed depths, allowing light to fracture across the canvas like a distant recollection. The work does not depict a specific place; instead, it evokes an emotional landscape shaped by absence, resilience, and transformation.

Both atmospheric and contemplative, this painting invites the viewer to pause inside a moment where space, memory, and material quietly merge. A striking statement piece for collectors drawn to poetic abstraction, architectural fragments, and works that hold a sense of stillness and depth.

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Maryam Attar Bashi is a Melbourne-based visual artist specialising in immersive installation and expanded painting practices. Born in Ahvaz, Iran (1981), she relocated to Australia in 2005, where she pursued her studies in graphic design at Enmore Design Centre and later completed a Bachelor of Visual Communication Design at Deakin University.

Maryam has recently completed her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at RMIT University, marking a significant evolution in her practice from graphic design to contemporary fine art. Her work focuses on creating immersive environments that explore themes of feminism, activism, diaspora, and the socio-political realities of her homeland, Iran.

Drawing from personal experience, Maryam critically engages with issues surrounding women’s rights, gender inequality, and the impact of religious and cultural systems. Her practice often incorporates self-representation as a performative strategy, positioning herself simultaneously as subject and creator to express lived experiences of displacement, resistance, and resilience.

Working across installation, painting, and drawing, her projects confront dominant narratives and challenge entrenched gender stereotypes. Through layered materials, symbolic elements, and spatial interventions, she constructs emotionally charged environments that invite reflection on identity, power, and freedom.

Maryam has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions and is recognised as an award-winning artist.