Maryam Fanni is a designer and researcher based in Stockholm. She holds a PhD in Design from HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg and was a visiting researcher at Center for Urban Research at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia, in 2023. Her research interests are spatial justice and the politics of design practice.
Her PhD monography Reading the Signs – Distinction-Making Nostalgia in Swedish Postwar Suburbs (2025) addresses the seemingly innocent designing of nostalgic sensescapes, understanding them as urban renewal strategies reinforcing racialization of the urban landscape.
In 2023–2024, she was initiator and artistic leader of an archival project re-activating the citizen-driven local history archive Hökarängsarkivet.
She has designed and/or edited publications and publishing platforms for clients in arts and academia since 2011. She was awarded Most Beautiful Books Sweden for the design of artist Eric Magassa's photo book 313 (Gothenburg: BlackBook Publications 2023). She co-edited Natural Enemies of Books: A Messy History of Women in Printing and Typography (London: Occasional Papers 2020) which has been translated to Portuguese and Finnish (book reviews collected here). More publications can be found in Library (under construction).
She is a co-founder and member of research-based transdisciplinary right-to-the-city collectives SIFAV Söderorts Institut För Andra Visioner/South Districts Institute For Other Visions (2012–2017) and Mapping the Unjust City (2015–). She is also a co-founder and member of feminist graphic design research collective MMS (2012–). In 2021 she joined the Swedish-Danish research group Aktion Arkiv.
Her writings have been published in research journals and cultural magazines such as Parse Journal of Artistic Research, Visual Communication, AIGA Eye of Design, Radical Housing Journal, PLAN, Futuress, NON, Tecknaren, Konstnären, Fronesis, Tydningen, Paletten, Arkitektur and in books published by Princeton Architectural Press, Stockholmia förlag, Statens konstråd and Konstfack Collection. Between 2015–2022 she was a regular contributor and art and design critic at Swedish National Radio (nation-wide pre-recordings and live broadcasting) and konsten.net (online art magazine).
Her works have been shown at Museum of Swedish History, ArkDes National Museum of Architecture and Design, Konsthall C, Röhsska museum of Design and Craft, Brno International Biennial of Graphic Design, Index Foundation, Grafikens hus c/o Royal Art Academy, Gallery Myymälä2, Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhus, EKA Gallery and Västerås konstmuseum.
She has done jury work for Swedish Arts Grants Committee's Visual Arts Fund, Hasselblad Foundation, Kolla!, Region Västra Götaland and SFF Swedish Association of Professional Photographers.
Clients and collaborators include: KIN Museum of Contemporary Art ● ZHdK Zürich University of the Arts ● Göteborgs konsthall ● Hasselblad Foundation ● Grafikens hus ● Norstedts ● Natur & Kultur ● Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design ● Kulturakademin ● KKH Royal Institute of Art ● Statens konstråd/Public Art Agency Sweden ● Arwidssonstiftelsen ● Konsthall C ● artist Elena Mazzi ● artist Kasra Alikhani ● artist Eric Magassa ● Västerås konstmuseum ● SAQMI Swedish Archive of Queer Moving Images ● SFF Swedish Association of Professional Photographers ● Region Västra Götaland ● Museum Anna Nordlander ● University of Gothenburg ● Index Foundation ● KTH Royal Institute of Technology ● researcher Frida Hållander ● artist Paula Urbano ● artist Katarina Nitsch ● Bokförlaget ETC ● Botkyrka Konsthall ● Swedish Arts Grants Committee/Konstnärsnämnden ● Riksutställningar ● ArtLab Gnesta ● Swedish Association of Graphic designers and Illustrators/Svenska Tecknare ●
Please get in touch for full CV.