ARTIST / WHO ART YOU
Zahra Saleki
Photography, participatory installation and dance film
Zahra Saleki uses bodies, light and landscape to explore migration, belonging and emotional memory, inviting viewers’ stories into the work.
Enter the conversation ↗
Practice & background
Iranian-Canadian artist Zahra Saleki works in Toronto across photography, video, installation and dance film. Gesture, light and movement offer ways of approaching experiences of displacement and belonging that resist direct expression.
First presented as a photo-installation at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in 2018, This Storm Is You comprises a 200-photograph series. Lightboxes, interactive projection and spaces for visitors to write their stories connect viewing with participation.
A York University Fine Art Cultural Studies honours graduate, Saleki received the 2024 Catherine Bratty Award for Best of Art Fair at Toronto Outdoor Art Fair. Her projects have also appeared at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Aga Khan Museum and Nuit Blanche.
Looking at the work
Bodies and settings carry emotional experience; projection, writing and dance extend the relationship between viewers and images.
Works & practice
Photograph from This Storm Is You; official artwork image.
Zahra Saleki / official website · View original source ↗Works & further reading
Continue with the artist’s own work and institutional sources.
Artist website ↗Instagram ↗Profile based on the sources listed above; the conversation informs the viewing questions and work guides.