Oct 31 – Nov 24, 2024

Opening Reception: Saturday, Nov 2, 2pm – 4pm 

In the Main Gallery

MEHRAN MODARRES-SADEGHI | Safar (A Journey)

Artist Talk: Saturday, Nov 9, 2pm – 3pm

Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi’s exhibition Safar (A Journey) in the Main Gallery explores Iranian identity in a globalized world through four separate but linked series of work. Ma Miaeem va Miravim (We Come and Go)  features drawings inspired by the Dick and Jane series in which Persian words are written using the Roman alphabet, investigating the socio-cultural implications of hybridity as they relate to interethnic exchange and the globalizing process of travel and translation. Thread, a series of sculptures using traditional and contemporary objects wrapped in black string, considers notions of collective memory and Western influences on Iranian cultural traditions. Mark making and abstraction are explored with reference to Persian Calligraphy, art, and architecture in the series of drawings called  Lost; and in the series Lost Gardens scroll drawings demonstrate the artist’s journey of reconnecting with her homeland’s plants and cultural traditions through the lens of British Columbia’s wild native plants. Modarres-Sadeghi’s works are autoethnographic, reflecting her lived experiences in Iran and Canada. 

Mehran Modarres-Sadeghi is an Iranian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver, BC. Originally from Isfahan, Iran, she immigrated to Canada in the 1990s, where she received an MFA in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design (2017), a BFA (2007) from the University of British Columbia. She also holds a BSc in Physics from Isfahan University of Technology, Iran. Her current practice mainly engages with drawing and textile sculpture, although she has worked in various media such as photography, painting, and installation. Through her work she investigates the socio-cultural implications of hybridity as they relate to interethnic exchange and the globalizing process of travel and translation. Modarres-Sadeghi respectfully acknowledges that she lives and works on the traditional unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations known as Vancouver, BC. 

Check out our YouTube channel for a video of this exhibition. 

In the Eve Smart Gallery

SUSAN HARMAN | From the Belly of the Whale

A series of digital paintings by Susan Harman in the Eve Smart Gallery that visually express the movement of transitional change using symbols and icons of the West Coast. Inspiration for the exhibition came at a point in time when Harman was surfacing from troubled waters, transitioning from a period of grief and learning how to navigate more freely in the world with sorrow as a new companion. After visiting the Whale Interpretive Centre at Telegraph Cove Harman began to braid together photographs of bones, ropes, wood and water. These icons and symbols of the coast embody meaning and movement; and the whale, always navigating the waters to create momentum, became a natural symbol representing the process of transition. Messages began to emerge expressing the passage of time, transition, and remembrance. Harman began to feel like she was swimming out of the belly of a whale.

Susan Harman is a photographer, writer, and painter living on the Sunshine Coast. Her style is a mix of abstraction and realism painted with a digital brush and her intention is to make art that has meaning, to write a visual story that might intertwine with the stories of others. Harman has over twenty years of experience teaching university level visual design courses and she holds a bachelors degree in fine arts from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, a diploma from Humber College, and certificates from Mount Royal University and Vancouver Community College. Harman has exhibited her artwork in solo and group exhibitions on the Sunshine Coast and in Surrey, BC, and has participated in film festivals nationally and internationally. 

Check out our YouTube channel for a video of this exhibition. 

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