Artwork by Maryam Mahdavian.
(Re)Imagining Inclusion
Community-based art with racialized immigrant women artists
Artists: Medina Ardic, Firuze Avci, Melika Forouzan Pour, Shiyao Fu, Tayebe Joodaki, Maryam Mahdavian
Research and facilitation by Nurgül Balaç Rodriguez
(Re)Imagining Inclusion is a community-based art project, engaging individuals who have experienced re-emerging into an art community. This project investigates the diverse communities of artists who are members of invisible/racialized minority groups in the city of Calgary and focuses on the role of racialized women artists when confronted with cultural gatekeeping.
This is a project in which seven racialized immigrant women artists are invited as participants to share their immigration stories in their own words and artworks. They (six of them) made one collaboration with the facilitator and one individual work. Using the format of an interview to facilitate a process of self-expression and representation, this project allowed participants to reflect on their experiences. The art tells their stories.
The project is initiated and facilitated by Nurgül Balaç Rodriguez, artist and educator; and currently a PhD student at the University of Calgary.
Re-Imagining Inclusion allowed both the researcher Nurgül Balaç Rodriguez and the artists to realize the importance of community-based art in developing and maintaining public interest in othering and belonging. The relationship between the immigrant artists, the researcher, and the art organization will strengthen the ties of the diverse and growing arts community in Calgary.ill strengthen the ties of the diverse and growing arts community in Calgary.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Medina Ardic
My name is Medina Ardic. Originally, I am from Baku, Azerbaijan. I graduated from Baku State University as a Geographer and later pursued education as an accountant. Though my work life wasn't related to art, I have always been interested in it.
My first encounter with Ebru Art happened in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2004 during an exhibition of Turkish artists. I was drawn to the pictures created using the Turkish water marbling technique. They looked distinct from other paintings, exhibiting a captivating lightness, tenderness, and sensitivity.
In 2009, my family and I moved to Ankara, Turkey. It was in December of the same year that I began taking classes from Ebru artist Ms. Hulya Ozyildiz. I learned the traditional techniques and patterns of Turkish Marbling Art, Ebru. Turkish Marbling Art Ebru involves creating colorful patterns by sprinkling natural earth pigment dyes on viscous water, which is then transferred onto paper.
In 2011, we relocated to Canada, and I brought along some art supplies and materials for Ebru. This gave me the opportunity to continue working with Ebru art. I actively participated in workshops, festivals, and art exhibitions. Since 2015, I have been teaching Ebru in the Turkish Canadian Cultural Association of Calgary.
Firuze Avci
Firuze Avci is a self-taught Turkish ceramic artist based in Calgary, AB. After graduating in Sociology in 2016, she discovered her love for ceramics with wheel throwing and decided to infuse her art with themes close to her heart, such as feminism, immigration, and empathy. She practiced traditional pottery with master potters and then developed techniques in ceramics, such as slip casting, mould-making, glaze-making, and sculpting. Utilizing her skills, Firuze creates artwork which carries traces of her thoughts about social dynamics and societal norms. For the past 1.5 years, Firuze has been living in Calgary, where she established her own craft-focused studio. She seeks to expand her artistic horizons, collaborate with local artists, and engage with the cultural climate of the city.
Melika Forouzan Pour
Melika Forouzan Pour is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist living in Calgary, Canada. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Art in Photography from the University of Tehran, Iran. She took her second Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Calgary. In her works which are mainly based on the concept of place attachment and memory, she constantly shifts between photography, painting and printmaking to explore identity and a sense of belonging through her connections to places and referring to personal and shared memories.
Her academic background in photography and her vast experiences in painting have helped her to combine the visual language of photography and painting in her artworks.
She has published articles in the field of family photography, collective memory, and the role of personal photos in shaping collective memories and social history in Iranian Art Journals.
Shiyao Fu
Shiyao Fu is an emerging visual artist with an interdisciplinary practice, involving painting, ceramic, sound, text-based art, and installation. She grew up in China and now resides in Mokinstsis, also known as Calgary. Her work concentrates on issues of identity, borders, language and translation. She explored individuals' place attachment in her sound installation. “Place” is a major element in her artworks. Her experience in early childhood of going back and forth between two cities made it more difficult for her to identify with these two places. Shiyao received her BFA (with Distinction) from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2018. After graduation, she has been working in contemporary art galleries in Beijing and Calgary to apply for her Canadian permanent resident status. Shiyao has recently participated in the Calgary Allied Arts Foundation artist residency program and is pursuing her MFA study.
Tayebe Joodaki
Tayebe Joodaki was born in Iran, a country with a long history in art and culture. When she was a little girl, her family recognized Tayebe’s talent in painting, but they did not favour her becoming an artist in the future; nonetheless, she did not give up and tried to attend painting classes during summer breaks. When her parents saw her talent and interest in painting, they started supporting her. Even though Tayebe participated in university exhibitions and was recognized for her talent, she only started painting seriously after graduating in Agricultural Engineering. She learned realistic painting under the tutelage of famous and skillful artists in Iran. She decided to start teaching art and chose to be a full-time artist. She was recognized as a successful and talented artist within a short time.
Tayebe immigrated to Canada in 2015 and received the New Canadian Artist Award from the Mayor of Calgary, Naheed Nenshi, in 2016. Also, she was honoured as a Finalist in the 22nd Annual Immigrants of Distinction Awards (2018). One year later, in 2019, she received the 30th International Artavita online art Contest Award. She was invited to publish her paintings in the book “Current Masters” and submit her work to international galleries in New York such as Artexpo. Tayebe has worked as an accomplished instructor with the Calgary Board of Education, Kerby Centre, Swinton‘s Art, YYC/LRT public artwork/studio, and the “Paint Ur Art Out” Gallery.
Maryam Mahdavian
My name is Maryam Mahdavian. I was born and raised in Iran. At the moment, I am a PhD student in Educational Research at the University of Calgary. In addition, I have been drawing cartoons since 2004. I believe that cartoons as a form of visual art goes beyond amusement and laughter and can act as a powerful communication tool to convey disparate concepts to people and affect their attitudes. Most of my cartoons depict social and political issues from a critical lens.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
Nurgül Balaç Rodriguez is an artist with an interdisciplinary practice, and a second year PhD student at Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. She has an active individual practice of disciplines and media including porcelain, installation, handmade paper, printmaking, three-dimensional pieces, and more recently socially engaged and collaborative projects. Her work is social, political, and personal with a focus on issues of immigration, diasporas, borders, and cultures. She explores becoming a diasporic individual during identity formation within a new culture. Nurgül settled in Calgary in 2009 after many nomadic years of living in Turkey, the United States and Spain with her family. She currently lives in Calgary making, writing, teaching, collaborating and always learning.
