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<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSomething Like Arriving<\/em>, Opening Reception, February 25, 2023, Photo: Shakuntala Fernandopulle<\/p>\n\n\n\n Iranian-Canadian curator, Farnoosh Talaee, opened the gallery with the intention of providing a platform for BIPOC artists typically neglected by mainstream institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something Like Arriving<\/em>, the gallery\u2019s inaugural exhibit, featuring artists Alize Zorlutuna, Diyar Mayil and Sukaina Kubba, explores the idea of comfort as something broader than a physical state of being. Across the gallery floor and on its walls, the idea of home is constructed and deconstructed. The items we most closely associate with home \u2013 rakes, rags, vases, carpets, sticks of sage and lavender \u2013 are placed throughout the space in curious combinations and enlarged to odd sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A series of deconstructed carpets by Iraqi-Canadian artist Sukaina Kubba are hung around the room. Another series of her carpet works, this time printed with a 3D-pen using an ephemeral clear filament, almost disappears against the wall. Kubba\u2019s practice revolves around what she categorizes as \u2019travelling objects,\u2019 like rugs. To Kubba, these objects are vessels of cross-cultural histories and narratives. She is also obsessed with packing materials. Even the carpets featured in the show are placed inside deliberately obvious plastic sheets, drawing attention to how these cultural artefacts are transported across boundaries with migrating families. Once removed from the packaging and placed on the floor, the objects have the ability to reconstruct a place as a home. In Something Like Arriving<\/em>, they remain behind the plastic, suspended on the walls \u2013 conveying an uncomfortable sense of unsettledness.<\/p>\n\n\n Sukaina Kubba, T77.0160, recycled U-Haul blankets, thread and embroidery thread from Value Village, and butcher’s twine, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n This feeling is matched by Diyar Mayil\u2019s powerful work. Mayil recreates every day domestic objects and disturbs them: the bristles of a broom constructed of plastic makes this tool totally useless. This purposeful dysfunction forms the core of her work. In Sweep<\/em>, a brush is warped and swollen to resemble a wooden caterpillar. It is placed awkwardly in the gallery\u2019s space \u2013 disrupting the movement of the visitors. We are constantly confronted by these objects in our path. As Mayil writes, \u201cmy hope is to create an intuitive dialogue between the viewer and my work that might translate into new bodily orientations and sensibilities.\u201d Our bodies, as viewers, are forced to adapt to the spaces she creates \u2013 as immigrants do when moving to new countries.<\/p>\n\n\n L-R: Diyar Mayil, Sweep, cherry wood, natural fibers, 2022 & Dustpan, glass, gold, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the wall by the entrance, a series of jugs, vases, and other receptacles are rendered flat by Turkish artist Alize Zorlutuna. The paper works, titled Carrying Seas<\/em>, are created from hand marbled paper. The specific shapes of these objects are taken from the archaeological record of Anatolian ceramics. Zorlutuna uses them to symbolize the objects we carry with us when we migrate or are displaced from our lands. Similarly, Kubba uses her carpets to echo the movement of people across borders. Like Zorlutuna\u2019s forms, which derive from vessels held in museum collections in the UK, Germany, Turkey, Canada, and the US, Kubba\u2019s specific carpet motifs are inspired by carpets held in collections like the Aga Khan and Textile museums in Toronto. They represent unique cultures and communities.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n