October 11 – November 1, 2019
Opening Reception: Friday October 11: 7-11pm
FREE all are welcome
Factory Media Centre is delighted to present Bread and Salt, a solo exhibition by Yara El Safi. Please join us for Art Crawl on Friday October 11th from 7-9pm to celebrate the opening reception.
Bread and Salt is a collection of work that explores the body under the colonial gaze featuring soft sculptures and short film about consumable bodies; the queer Muslim experience under a Canadian colonial context
Yara El Safi’s work speaks to the fragments of intersectional identities that polarize and erases each other. El Safi’s work focuses on conflicting and unfixed identities that live in two different places, realities, universes. El Safi attempts to reconcile these identities by creating a dialogue of reclamation of the body, traditional symbols, dialects and, resistance of the dominant narrative. El Safi is a visual artist and burlesque dancer that explores the concept of the Muslim Arab body under the colonial gaze. Her work is highly influenced by historical bellydancer Naima Afek and photographer Shirin Neshat.
About the Artist:
Yara El Safi is a Queer, Lebanese, Muslim artist born in Abu Dhabi and raised in Tripoli, Lebanon. El Safi immigrated with her family to Windsor, Ontario, Canada in 2002 in search of a better education and better economic standing. She completed her BFA Honours and minor in Women’s Studies at Western University. Currently based in Hamilton Ontario, her BFA Specialization in Studio Art aided with the establishment of her artistic discipline in formal studio practice while her background in Women’s Studies informed her foundation to understand herself within a Canadian context and the intersections of identity in her ongoing practice.