Biography

Miriam Fabijan (b. 1960, Calgary, Canada) is a contemporary multidisciplinary artist based in Calgary, Canada. She works across painting, drawing, photography, fibre art, and installation, employing mixed media, digital prints on bamboo paper, as well as photography. Her installations incorporate slide projections, video, painting, and sound, while her fibre art encompasses embroidery and molded weavings utilizing beeswaxed hemp, thread, ribbon, cord, and hair. Fabijan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary (1984) and a Master of Fine Arts from NSCAD University (1989). She is best known for her photo-based 2D artworks and multimedia installations, selecting materials that best support her chosen narrative, often experimenting with traditional and unconventional approaches.

Fabijan’s work explores themes of identity, cultural connections, and belonging, drawing inspiration from her Slovenian heritage and personal and familial history. She examines the effects of trauma and intergenerational trauma on memory, investigating how images, objects, and creative practices become vessels for storytelling, remembrance, and healing. Her projects reflect a deep engagement with memory and identity, offering layered visual narratives that question the construction of personal and collective histories. Among her significant past works are Second Sight, The Shade of a Shadow, Translations: My Hat Has Three Holes, and Stari Stara. Her recent and ongoing series include Nesting, Displaced, I Will Remember for You, and Mothers and Daughters.

Miriam Fabijan has exhibited widely, with solo exhibitions such as The Shade of a Shadow at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, Canada, and Translations: My Hat Has Three Holes, Galerija Equrna, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Oboro, Montreal, Canada and Toronto Photographers Workshop, Toronto, Canada. She has participated in group exhibitions including Elemental Instincts at the Nickle Art Museum, Calgary, Canada; Young Contemporaries a touring exhibition out of the London Regional Art Gallery, London, Canada; and The Artist’s Lens: Identity at the Exposure Photography Festival, ASA Gallery, Calgary, Canada. Her work is held in the Canada Council Art Bank and the Walter Phillips Gallery for Contemporary Art, as well as various private collections nationally and internationally. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts and has contributed to academic discourse through panels and publications. Notably, she was awarded third prize in the Patterns of Memories International Art Competition at Vedica Art Studios and Gallery, Mumbai, India (2024).