About

I am Atena Takhayori, an Iranian visual artist based in Toronto, working across different mediums, including oil painting, acrylic, and digital illustration. My work often moves between realism and imagination, with a focus on light, atmosphere, and creating images that carry feeling and tell quiet stories.

My connection with art started very early in life. Since I was around two years old, a sketchbook was almost always by my side. One of my earliest memories is drawing Mickey Mouse at the age of five—a character I loved deeply at the time. Looking back now, I feel that creating has always been a natural part of who I am.

Everything I have learned in art has been self-taught. I never followed a formal artistic education or specific training path. Instead, I learned through curiosity, observation, experimentation, and many years of simply continuing to create.

Although art was always close to my heart, I chose to study engineering and for many years saw art as something personal—a quiet passion rather than a professional direction. But over time, I began to see it differently.

I started to wonder if a gift that stays with us from childhood is meant to be ignored. Maybe some passions are placed in us for a reason.

Today, I choose to give more space to this part of myself—to create more intentionally, to keep growing, and to share what I see and feel through my work.

And perhaps, in small and quiet ways, art can make the world feel a little softer, brighter, and a little more beautiful to live in.