Artist Bios: Rumi
Date:
May 13–October 1, 2023
Hangama Amiri
Hangama Amiri holds an MFA from Yale University where she graduated in 2020 from the Painting and Printmaking Department. She received her BFA from NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a Canadian Fulbright and Post-Graduate Fellow at Yale University School of Art and Sciences (2015-2016). Amiri works predominantly in textiles to examine notions of home, as well as how gender, social norms, and larger geopolitical conflict impact the daily lives of women, both in Afghanistan and in the diaspora. Continuing to use textiles as the medium, Amiri searches to define, explore, and question these spaces. The figurative tendency in her work is due to her interest in the power of representation, especially of those objects that are ordinary to our everyday life, such as a passport, a vase, or celebrity postcards. Her recent exhibitions include A Homage to Home (2023) at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT; Sharjah Biennial 15: Thinking Historically in the Present (2023), Sharjah, UAE; Reminiscences (2022) at Union Pacific in London; Henna Night/ Shabe Kheena (2022) at David B. Smith Gallery, Denver, CO; Mirrors and Faces (2021) at Cooper Cole Gallery, Toronto; Wandering Amidst the Colors (2021) at Albertz Benda, New York, NY; Spectators of a New Dawn (2021), Towards Gallery, Toronto; and Bazaar: A Recollection of Home (2020) at T293 Gallery, Rome, Italy.
Erdem Taşdelen
Erdem Taşdelen is a visual artist who currently lives and works in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. Through the use of diverse materials and media, he constructs semi-fictional narratives that incorporate unique historical figures, events and texts to implicate contemporary sociopolitical realities. Selected exhibitions include Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; The Power Plant, Toronto (2023); BüroSarıgedik Display, Istanbul; The Plumb, Toronto; Richmond Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Burlington (2022); Mercer Union, Toronto; Oakville Galleries (2021); Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga; AKA artist-run, Saskatoon (2020); Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; The Bows, Calgary; Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (2019); VOX, Montréal; Bonington Gallery, Nottingham (2018); Pera Museum, Istanbul; Framer Framed, Amsterdam; Or Gallery, Vancouver (2017); Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg (2016); Sabancı Museum, Istanbul (2015). Taşdelen's work has been reviewed in publications including Artforum, Flash Art, ArtAsiaPacific, Canadian Art and C Magazine. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Delfina Foundation, London; Rupert, Vilnius; and KulturKontakt Austria, Vienna. In 2019, he was long-listed for the Sobey Art Award.
Simin Keramati
Simin Keramati is an Iranian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist. Working in photography, film, mixed media, and painting, Keramati references various elements from news and social media, her personal life and her own body in her work, often addressing themes of identity, diasporic experience, women’s rights, and gender equality. Keramati received her Master’s degree in fine arts from the Art University of Tehran and taught art as part of the permanent faculty of Art and Architecture at Azad University in Tehran. In 2012, she moved to Toronto after struggling with depression in the aftermath of the protests in Iran in 2009, resigning from her post at Azad University. In her recent works, Keramati has addressed literature-based themes, reclaiming the role of women in classical literature and stories. She was awarded the grand prize from Dhaka international biennial in 2003-04 for her video installation “Rising up or falling down" and was also shortlisted for the MOPCAP (Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize) in 2009. Keramati’s works have been exhibited in art galleries and Museums internationally, most recently at the Aga Khan Museum, RedCat (Los Angeles, USA), the Saarland Museum (Saarbrücken, Germany), and Whitechapel Gallery (London, UK).
