Solidarity in Diversity

Azadeh Mehryar

See it On Campus: Level 1

Visitor Info

Sculpture Area, Room D1357

Award Recipient

Landon Mackenzie Graduation Award for Visual Arts – Honourable Mention

graduation project | artist statement | other works | biography

G R A D U A T I O N P R O J E C T

“Solidarity in Diversity” 2022 & 2023. Ceramic, Mirror Tiles, Paint. 44 ceramic pieces arranged on a mirrored surface of 60″ x 36″, On Exhibit at the Emily Carr Grad Show 2023

“Solidarity in Diversity” is a multiplicity installation project which is composed of 44 ceramic cubic structures collectively with varying measurements arranged on a mirrored surface. The installation is inspired by the solidarity of diverse ethnic groups in Iran who are standing side by side in support of each other in the recent challenging era of socio-political unrest.

The structures featuring the arcs as well as the installation approach are reminiscent of the particular Persian architecture and just as architectural buildings contain people and their belongings, the cubic structures contain a concept representing “the Iranian nation” and everything that is linked to this nation, including its culture, its history, its willing for freedom, and its sufferings as a society.

The fact that these structures are made of different clay bodies refers to the diversity of various ethnic communities in Iran. The mirrors do not only refer to the pool centerpiece that is featured in the Persian landscape architecture, but they also act as reflective elements, reflecting the unity and solidarity of this nation. The uneven surface of the mirror placements and the red marks on them indicate the unrest and the state of an extreme situation, red marks being for the bloodshed.

A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
It has long been my conviction that today’s constantly growing technology-based lifestyle has impacted the concept of creativity in which little to no tactile interactions are experienced and that the culture as a key component of one’s identity is being pushed to the margins. Having worked as a web developer previously, I realized that my creativity was limited to the digital screens, which was far from the creativity that I was originally interested in practicing. This lack of a tactile experience and the pale presence of culture in my career made me consider changing my path to the one in which I could touch my creations and paint them with the colors of culture. In the new path, I started to practice art with a key focus on ceramics whose process of making requires using hands to create, which includes touching, feeling, and altering the clay. Whether the final product is functional or non-functional, it is a tangible object that has been made with hands, with marks that bear this signature, physically and culturally.		Since the beginning of my artistic journey, I have been exploring the juxtaposition of the contemporary framework and traditional Persian art, which has led my body of works to include strong references to the Persian art and architecture as a response to my experience of diaspora in Canada and to pay tribute to my cultural identity. With reference to the geometry that is present in Persian design, my work explores symmetry, balance and traditional ideas of sculptural forms within a contemporary framework. Following my idea of practicing ceramic art, I am interested to continue creating a body of work which will speak about the way the contemporary framework and the Persian traditional art could come together to further explore the tension between the symmetry and asymmetry, balance and imbalance, as well as tradition and modernity to find perfection within imperfection and vice versa.

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H Y B R I D I T Y