Raha Fard
Artist Statement
New wisdom for me is about the interconnection between people, feeling the pain in other bodies, and experiencing what they are going through in their life. How could I feel a breakthrough within, while people are in social and political disasters in the land which is connected to my identity? We are connected; we are connected to each other through identity, through the land. I feel when you are suffering in the farthest part of the world, I feel the pain in your body, and I feel sorrow in your heart. No matter what we are doing, and in what position we are, we go into our solitude, anxiety and sorrow, with the news about people who are in unbearable circumstances in other parts of the world.
The three works are from a series named Solitude, and are done with acrylic and oil on canvas, depicting a lonely female figure in different positions in her solitude. The patterns in this series of paintings are inspired by Persian rugs and traditional Persian motifs.
Solitude 1
Solitude 1, 2021 30 x 30 inches (h x w) Oil & Acrylic on Canvas
Solitude 3
Solitude 3, 2021 30 x 30 inches (h x w) Oil & Acrylic on Canvas
Solitude 4
Solitude 4, 2021 36 x 30 inches (h x w) Oil & Acrylic on Canvas
About Raha Fard
Raha Fard is an Iranian-Canadian, Toronto based artist. She had Master’s degree in telecommunication engineering, and 15 years’ experience, before studying Drawing and Painting at OCAD University. She works in multiple disciplines such as drawing and painting, installation, digital art, and making short films to question how people are interconnected through their identity despite their distance and their differences. Her works are reXections of her own lived experience in witnessing people suffering, due to social or political issues in other parts of the world. She had several group exhibitions in Iran and Canada, and she got “Online International Learning Residency”, collaboration between OCAD U and Mapua University in the Philippines, in 2020.The short film Abaca-Kenaf produced in this residency by Raha Fard and her Filipino partner, won OCAD U President’s Award for Best Cinematography. Also, Kenaf, the Persian part of it, was accepted in Farhang Short Film Festival.