About
Artistic Statement
I am a visual artist working in oil painting, exploring the changeable nature of immigrant nostalgia through dreamlike imagery. As the granddaughter of four survivors of the Armenian genocide, and the daughter of immigrants, I draw from my family’s archives and stories to connect personal histories to broader questions of memory, displacement, and cultural disconnection.
Working from inherited photographs and oral narratives, I reimagine these images using bright, unexpected colour palettes. I introduce cultural symbols that may not appear in the original material but exist in an intangible way, embedded in memory and identity. Through shifts in scale, I emphasize the emotional weight of certain figures, objects, and moments, allowing their significance to expand beyond the literal scene.
My paintings move between careful rendering and areas left sketchy or unresolved. This tension reflects the instability of memory itself: how stories are altered, softened, or reshaped over time, often to serve what is carried forward to the next generation. In this way, the work resists the idea of memory as fixed or factual, and instead embraces its fluid and constructed nature.
Through this practice, I am less concerned with the accuracy of memory than with its emotional truth. Nostalgia, even when fragmented or reimagined, holds the power to connect, to preserve, and to bridge across cultures. Memory becomes a living force, one that transcends time and place, and continues to shape both personal and collective futures.
About Marie
Marie Khediguian is an Armenian-Canadian visual artist and researcher based in Montreal (Tiohtià:ke, unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory). With a foundational background in architecture, holding a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from McGill University, she is currently completing a BFA in painting and drawing at Concordia University.
Marie’s practice is deeply rooted in research-creation and community engagement. She actively curates, exhibits, and presents her research, most recently speaking at the Frames of Reference symposium. Her recent and upcoming projects include the exhibition Ballads of Displacement at the VAV Gallery, curating The Risk of Colour for the Art Matters Festival, and a forthcoming research-creation residency at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Yerevan. As a member of an Armenian artist collective, Marie leads talks and workshops, extending her practice beyond the canvas to question how communities preserve and carry histories forward.
Let’s Connect
Thank you for spending time with my work. If you'd like to connect—for exhibitions, collaborations, speaking engagements, or just to start a conversation—I’d love to hear from you.
You can also subscribe to my newsletter for studio updates, behind-the-scenes reflections, and thoughtful art recommendations.