Sara

Mozafari-Lorestani

Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design

“I was born in the summer of 1981 in Tehran, Iran. 1981 is two years after the Islamic revolution of Iran. 1981 is a year after the beginning of eight years of war between Iran and Iraq. 1981 is seven years before the mass execution of Iranian political prisoners. I was born in 1981 in Tehran, Iran, as a woman-to-be, and I left the country when I was 25. After immigrating to Canada, my factual perceptions from my home country narrowed to the memories I have and the news I receive on an everyday basis. I remember the days growing up in Iran, but I feel I am not Iranian anymore. I remember the day I became Canadian, but I feel I am not Canadian yet. They call me Iranian-Canadian. I consider myself neither Iranian nor Canadian. I feel no sense of strong association with either culture, yet I find an affinity with both. I am inside and outside, stateless yet relating to both. I live in Canada, but I move around with my memories from Iran. To connect myself to either culture, or both, I struggle to understand what is going on in Iran and, simultaneously, to fit myself into Canadian society. I don’t ground myself in a spirit of identity arising from one culture or the other, or even from both. I go beyond, exploring how I might use their influence on me to return to a more authentic self through selection and rejection, revision and reconstruction. My initial investigation into the relationship between memory, space, and displacement arose from my constant awareness of a link between the real space I experience in a particular time and a comparable space I used to experience in the past. My current practice's primary focus is to recognize space, displacement, and memory, in diverse aspects of human identity and social relations.”

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SaraMozafari-Lorestani
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Sara Mozafari-Lorestani is an Iran-Canadian interdisciplinary artist. She works in different mediums including drawing, painting, installation, and performance. Her MFA practice's primary focus is to recognize space, displacement, and memory, in diverse aspects of human identity and social relations. She has completed her BA in architecture design from the University of Toronto with distinction in 2017.
OCAD U - Graduate Studies
Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media and Design (MA, MDes and MFA)
Major Completed, 2021
University of Toronto
BA in Architecture
Major Completed, 2017
Centennial College
Fine Arts Studio
Major Transferred, 2011

Installation Painting Performance Architecture Design Drawing

2021, Thirding with Nine Thousand Memories
Thirding Studio Gallery
2019, An Index
MOCA Toronto
2016, Bright Lights at Night
Red Head Gallery
2016, Three X Five Thesis Exhibition,
University of Toronto
2015, Eye Ball Exhibition
University of Toronto
2021, Medal winner for Interdisciplinary Master's in Art, Media & Design.
OCAD University
2016, Eyeball Best Sculpture Award
University of Toronto
2010, Dean's Award
Centennial College
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