Pegah Shahriaree (Shah)

Pegah Shahriaree (Shah) MD FRCPC is a full time practicing Internist and a lecturer at the University of Toronto, faculty of Medicine. Pegah is also a Canadian-Iranian visual artist currently living in Toronto, Canada. She was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. In 2002, she immigrated to Canada to begin a new chapter of her life. Pegah started art as a summer activity and hobby during her childhood.

What started as copying other artists’ works turned into creating pieces inspired by her imagination and interest during her high school years. At the age of twenty-two, when she was a full-time medical student, she was introduced to an intellectual couple, who are both spectacular artists in Tehran, Mitra Ebrahimi, and Alireza Espahbod.

Soon she began weekly lessons with Ebrahimi. Pegah learned the basics of drawing, composition, and color theory. She also mastered her skills in colour pencils, pastels and watercolour. She learned more about art history, artists, and art movements during this period. Her teacher’s works, which focused on femininity and its multifaceted nature, inspired her.

Shortly after arriving in Canada, she pursued her medical training for another seven years. Pegah had plans to pick up her brushes again in 2015, but life hit her hard with a devastating event. Her one-and-a-half-year-old son was diagnosed with an aggressive form of acute leukemia. She had to spend days and nights in the hospital taking care of her son while working in another hospital, taking care of patients. Sadly, her son did not respond to treatments and eventually succumbed to his illness in 2016.

Once again, Pegah turned to art to heal her wounds. She traveled to Washington DC to visit the Freer Gallery of Art and Sackler Gallery, where they curated an impressive collection of ancient Iranian artifacts. Among these artifacts were Metal arts by the Sassanid era from 300 to 700 AD alongside exquisite tile works and “gol-o-morgh” paintings by the Safavid artists in 1500-1730.

Her inspiration grew when she visited these galleries. It pushed her to start a series of works that merges these two styles of Iranian art. This project is still ongoing.

More recently, living in the COVID-19 pandemic, Pegah drew inspiration from witnessing the lives of people who were all stranded in lockdowns. She needed to have an outlet to empower herself to provide care for patients in the hospital. Her most recent artworks, entitled “Birds Collection” reflects her thoughts during this crisis.

With love in her heart and dedication that directs her artistic vision, Pegah continues to learn and create art to highlight values that define her personality.