The Vancouver Iranian Visual Arts (VIVA) Alliance is set to open their new Medias Res Gallery curated by UBC alum Maryam Babaei on March 27. Their inaugural exhibition, Henna Night II / Shabe Kheena II, will feature a series of textile works by Afghan-Canadian artist Hangama Amiri.
VIVA Alliance is a local non-profit organization founded in 2023 with a mandate to platform and support emerging Farsi-speaking artists on the local scene. Beginning with a pair of annual exhibitions at the Yaletown-Roundhouse Community Centre featuring local artists like Vahid Dastpak, Amir Aziz and Nakisa Dehpanah, the alliance has grown to the point of establishing its new headquarters in Railtown.
The opening of the Medias Res Gallery, named for the Latin phrase meaning “in the middle of things,” entails what Babaei calls a moment of “rapid growth” for the VIVA Alliance.
“It’s going to be, basically, the development of the same ideas that we’ve had. [We want] to consolidate the activities that we have been doing and to build on them.”
In spite of the collective’s roots in Vancouver’s Farsi-speaking diaspora, Babaei and VIVA Alliance as a whole are quick to highlight the inclusive nature of their mission.
“Our commitment is to creating an intercultural exchange,” said Babaei, “and interculturality is not possible if your approach is exclusive. We don’t plan on specializing in the works of one particular diaspora at all.”
The gallery will serve many of VIVA Alliance’s needs as a growing art organization including office space and two resident studios, as well as a smaller capsule exhibition space in addition to the main gallery hall which is currently preparing to host Amiri’s exhibition.
According to Babaei, this smaller space will play host to regular workshops, lectures and activities aimed at promoting cultural dialogue and understanding, including weekly drawing sessions and artist talks associated with current exhibitions.
Amiri’s Henna Night II / Shabe Kheena II, which runs from March 27–May 2, focuses on a series of the artist’s textile works depicting traditional pre-marriage ceremonies, including one large scale piece crafted by Amiri specially for Medias Res’ inaugural exhibition.
“Amiri [is] such an accomplished artist who [has] such a distinctive diasporic lens. That was fitting as a beginning and an inaugural exhibition for [Medias Res],” said Babaei.
“Even though she has a very culturally specific lens [and] autobiographical approach … she finds a way to highlight the universality of the nostalgia that she’s experiencing, the sense of loss that she’s experiencing, [to create] a coherent idea of home, a coherent idea of belonging.”
Babaei also stressed the enriching value that “exposing yourself to the artistic activity that is happening in your vicinity” can hold for students and their understanding of the world around them.
“We hope that UBC students, young people, will come and see this truly accomplished artist [and] hopefully leave intrigued and interested to learn more about the situation of women in Afghanistan and the great art that comes out of that region.”
The Medias Res Gallery has several exhibits lined up for the rest of the year after Amiri’s exhibit closes in May. June 26 sees the opening of Re-encounter Mythical Entities curated by Wen Zhu, followed by a hallway exhibition in the gallery’s capsule space of the work of Anishinaabe/Ukrainian artist Speplól Tanya Zilinski entitled S'íwes te Tém:éxw / Teachings of the Earth.
Share this article
First online
