Maryam Ghaffari/MSMIM is a German-Persian-American, self-taught, emerging artist and entrepreneur living in the Pacific Northwest. Maryam is influenced by anything that makes her and others feel unconquerable and happy. Through vivid colors, stripes and dots, she brings her characters, objects and spaces alive — not knowing how her paintings will form but allowing them simply to become. Maryam’s work reflects her trinomial entity, her passion for diversity and her love of storytelling. Her work is a tribute to the invincible, universal muse — feminine creativity imbued with an attitude and sly fierceness. Maryam lives with her partner and fur-babies in Mercer Island, Washington. After working in academia and technology, she is, like the characters she paints, creating a new story for herself.