Maedeh Sharifi, aka ‘History by Mae,’ is bridging the gap between fine art and modern day audiences by explaining the context behind some of history’s most famous pieces.
You’re scrolling down your For You Page on TikTok when you come across a video that shows a painting of a woman wearing an ornamental headdress. It’s impossible not to notice her massive forehead, but text placed along the top of the artwork says: “A large forehead was a sign of beauty in the Middle Ages.”
Curious, you click the video, which shows a slideshow of ancient paintings of noblewomen with big foreheads. “Women plucked their hairline to achieve this,” the text reads. Instrumental music fills your ears, and suddenly, you don’t feel so insecure about your own forehead – and even find it funny that people went to such lengths to fit a bizarre beauty standard.
This is just one example of the way History by Mae, real name Maedeh Sharifi, draws in her audience. What makes them stay is how she explains the scenarios behind ancient artwork — many of which leave viewers with a newfound appreciation for paintings of a bygone era. Thanks to her hard work, she’s reached over 700K YouTube subscribers, 500K followers on Instagram, and 182K on TikTok.
We got to speak with Maedeh as part of our Rising Stars interview series, where she let us in on what started her journey as an educational YouTuber and how her life has changed since reaching internet fame.
One of Maedeh’s most viral videos discusses ‘The Unequal Marriage,’ a painting crafted by Vasily Pukirev in 1862. To the untrained eye, it shows the shocking scene of a younger woman wedding an older man… but the context behind the scene makes it even more heart wrenching.
Maedeh points out the ghosts of the man’s former wives disapproving of the union, as well as a self-insertion of the painter who she claims was in love with the bride.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Commenters have also added their thoughts about the artwork, with one user pointing out the flammability of older clothing and how carelessly the bride is handling her candlestick.
“In this era, wedding dresses were prone to being made of extremely flammable material… you notice the bride in this painting is holding her candle very loosely and dangerously close to her dress — as if she’s hoping it may just ‘accidentally’ catch fire.”
“The flowers for her veil aren’t even fully bloomed yet, a reference to how young she is,” another added.
It’s these conversations that Maedeh hopes to foster by bringing historical art to the modern world, which she explained in an exclusive interview with Dexerto.
“One of my main objectives is to reach people who are not necessarily into arts and history in the first place,” she told us. “And one of the best types of comments that I receive is from people who would tell me, ‘I used to think that I hated the arts and I never felt anything when looking at art. And now through your videos, I felt something. It’s new for me.’ That’s the type of comment that really touches me. …And people, oftentimes, post even more information in the comments, and that’s where the discussion happens. So I feel really blessed to have this type of audience.”
Through her content, Maedeh hopes to upend the idea that fine arts are something gatekept for academics and that everyone can enjoy parts of our collective human history.
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“Another aspect of my videos, or why I believe people like them, is just being able to know the context behind a painting. That’s often what prevents people from really connecting. I do believe it challenges the idea of academics in their ivory towers gatekeeping information about the arts or whatever topic.”
I feel that through social media, we’re trying to reach as many people as possible and make the content digestible for a Gen Z audience, make it fun, engaging. And what’s interesting is that the content itself is just a taste of what it could be.”
Maedeh boasts two degrees: an undergrad in computation art and a master’s in history education, both of which have influenced the kind of content she makes.
“I feel like I’m kind of combining everything that I know into my videos,” she said. “I’m teaching history through the arts using social media. So it all turned out pretty interesting in the end. I basically started mostly making history videos and at some point, I posted a painting video which got really viral. …it’s ‘The Unequal Marriage’ painting.
“People were so interested in it, both on Instagram and TikTok. I got two million likes, so that’s when I really came to understand that people were thirsty for this type of content. They wanted more, so that’s what really got me into posting more painting content.”
One curious aspect of Maedeh’s content is that she never speaks in her videos. Instead, she puts text over a painting and pairs it with a song — usually something somber or orchestral.
“Initially, I made one-minute videos on TikTok where I would talk, and those were pretty average. But once I started using text and really utilizing the music in my videos, I feel like that’s when [they] would get more popular and more views. I think it has something to do with the short attention span of our current generation and how everything is so short, fast-paced.
“It’s much quicker to just read what is on your screen than listen to someone talking. Even on a platform like TikTok, people have a very short attention span for listening to other people. So I feel like there’s that aspect, and by using text, I can really use the power of music to convey the information that I wanna send.”
Maedeh is a stay-at-home mom of two children who creates her videos in between the hustle and bustle of running a household with small kids. She has the full support of her family, telling us her parents are proud of the impact she’s made online.
“My parents are pretty proud,” she said. “My dad watches my videos and sometimes he comments. He adds little hearts in the comment section, so I find that really endearing.
They have pretty positive opinions, but I wouldn’t say it changed much in my everyday life. I mean, I’m a wife and I’m a mom of two kids. I live my life as a stay-at-home mom, and when my kids are in bed or napping, that’s when I do my videos and I research. That’s where I can have this alternate life that I have online.”
Mae’s online ‘alter ego’ has racked up hundreds of thousands of followers across multiple platforms. It’s clear that viewers are hungry to learn more about art and history — and Mae’s videos are here to teach them.