Digital Arts Resource Centre (DARC) is thrilled to announce our exhibited artists for Part 2 of the Fall 2024 LED Exhibition. This exhibition allows our diverse community of members to showcase their digital artwork on our impressive 7ft LED display. With these works, our members aspire to inspire passersby of the Arts Court building and will contribute to fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and supportive artistic community.
Part 2 of our Fall 2024 Exhibition features works by Khadija Aziz, Chantal Gervais, and Ghazal Vakilzadeh and will be displayed from November 15th to December 15th, 2024. See Part 1.
Where the Cyborg Lives (Home) by Khadija Aziz
Where the Cyborg Lives (Home) is a stop-motion embroidermation comprising approximately 115 frames of hand embroidery using cotton floss on cotton fabric that is approximately 3×3 inches. Each frame is scanned in high resolution to emphasize the relationship between the woven threads of the fabric and the digital pixels on the screen. This embroidermation playfully explores what it means to give thread the autonomy to create its own landscape without complete intervention from the artist. This approach allows the material to have its own agency, thus creating a collaboration between the thread and the artist.
Khadija Aziz is an interdisciplinary artist and educator based in Toronto. Fueled by a love for playfulness and collaboration, she investigates the making and transformation of patterns by blending analogue and digital processes. By marrying slow textile-making techniques with spontaneous digital manipulation methods, Khadija explores the potentials of digital materiality, bringing the digital into physical and the tangible into digital spaces. She has an MFA from Concordia University in Montréal (2023) and a BFA from OCAD University in Toronto (2020). Khadija is currently an artist-in-residence at Harbourfront Centre’s Craft & Design Studio in Toronto.
Self-Portrait with Tundra’s Fur by Chantal Gervais
Self-Portrait with Tundra’s Fur is a video exploring the intricate and volatile connections between our sense of identity, memory and the fragility and unpredictability of life. For this piece, I combine still images selected from two distinct bodies of work produced over the past 15 years. The Body Ineffable which features large self-portraits created from MRI scans and Tundra’s fur a multidisciplinary project about love, loss and grief using and working extensively with the hair collected from my beloved dog Tundra (2003-2019). On a very personal level the work is an exploration of interconnections between the medical images of myself and the fur that is the last vestige of my furry friend. It was a playful yet heartfelt process that prompted reflections on the complex symbolic interplay between mind and memory, loss and resilience, and life and death
Chantal Gervais’ photo and video works deal with representation, identity, human condition and the relationship between the body and technology. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo shows in Canada and abroad. Her photographs are in public and private collections including Global Affairs Canada, the Ottawa Art Gallery and the City of Ottawa. In 2014, she was awarded the Karsh Award and the Duke and Duchess of York Prize in Photography in 2002. She received a BFA in photography from the University of Ottawa and an MA in Art and Media Practice from the University of Westminster (London, U.K.).
Kashi by Ghazal Vakilzadeh
Kashi is a 2D frame by frame animated piece which captures the intricate details and timeless beauty of traditional craftsmanship. The animation, which is inspired by Persian tilework, breathes life into the floral motifs and geometric patterns that define Persian tiles, allowing them to move and flow in a colorful and mesmerizing dance. This dynamic piece is meant to create a bridge between the historic and the contemporary. “Kashi” meaning “Tile” in Persian, invites viewers to experience the elegance of Persian tilework in a new, living form, where every detail is animated.
Ghazal Vakilzadeh is an Iranian-Canadian artist based in Toronto. She studied Integrated Media with a specialization in animation at OCAD University. With an interest in exploring the narrative possibilities of animation, her pieces tell stories of Persian culture and the concepts of diaspora, cultural identity and nostalgia.
Thank you to all the artists who submitted to our 2024 LED Exhibition!
