Parisa Azadi is a Canadian visual journalist and storyteller with a keen interest in history and conflict, memory and displacement. She is based between Tehran, Iran and Dubai, UAE where she covers the region.
For over a decade, Parisa has worked extensively in the Middle East, South Asia, Africa, and Canada. She has reported politically sensitive issues such as missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan, the illegal practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Uganda, and religious extremism in South Asia. Since 2015, Parisa has been working in the Middle East, examining the nuanced dynamics of communities living in the aftermath of political violence.
In 2023, Parisa was selected for the South Asia Incubator Program and was awarded the Magnum Foundation Mobility Grant. Parisa’s work has been presented in group and solo exhibitions across Europe and her work has been recognized by the World Press Photo 6×6 Global Talent Program. Parisa earned the Chris Hondros Fund Award (Eddie Adams Workshop, 2019) and a Women Photograph Emergency Fund grant (2020). Parisa was short listed for the Magnum Counter Histories Initiative, the Lucie Foundation Emerging Artist Scholarship and the PH Museum Women Photographers Grant. Her photographs have been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Vogue, Associated Press, Courrier International, Annabelle Magazine, Malala Fund, International Rescue Committee, among others. Parisa is fluent in Persian and English. She is HEFAT certified by VICE Media and Control Risk and is bilingual in English and Persian.