Fariba Samsani
Fariba Samsani was born in Tehran and obtained a degree in drawing and painting from Behzad Art School before obtaining a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at the College of Decorative Arts. Like many of her compatriots, she left Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and decided to move to Montreal where she could experiment freely with her vision of the place of women in society. In 1993, after her second degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University, she started exhibiting her paintings and developed little by little her recurring creative approach of ingenious installation practice.
Fariba Samsani's art is based around the theme of women's situation within contemporary society. Her first works dealt with oppression and the victimization of women and the psychological effects and triggers in particular. In Light Bulbs (2002), she covered the ceiling with light bulbs each covered with a piece of black fabric of a different texture to give the same effect as chadors. After the antagonistic approach of her beginnings, Fariba steadily progressed towards a more didactic approach that sought to privilege an enriching intercultural dialogue, notably with her most recent multimedia installations that question the complex reality of exile, immigration, political boundaries, and the opposition between cultures. (Reframing in 2005 and Interactive Translocation in 2007)
Since her arrival in Canada, Fariba Samsani has participated in many solo and collective exhibits in Montreal, London, and Toronto. Her work has been presented numerous times on its own, notably in the regions of Quebec (Chicoutimi, Trois-Riviere, Quebec), in Montreal (Articule, MAI, Occurence) and in other Canadian provinces (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Centre culturel franco-manitobain). Her original works constitute an invitation to the active participation in the creative process at the same time a challenge to our perceptions and false certitudes.
Photos
Photo by Remy Boily
Photo by Pierre Charrier
