Across Latitudes

Featuring works by Soheila Esfahani, Heidi McKenzie, Zinnia Naqvi

Art Gallery of Mississauga
July 20 – September 29, 2024
Curated by Shannon Anderson

Opening Reception: Thursday July 25, 2024, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm
No registration required. Refreshments will be provided.

Zinnia Naqvi, The Wanderers – Niagara Falls, 1988, 2019; inkjet print, 30 x 48 inches

Across Latitudes examines the intricate realities of moving between cultures and across generations in the process of forging identities and locating our place in the world. The distinct art practices of Soheila Esfahani, Heidi McKenzie, and Zinnia Naqvi all draw from experiences of diaspora to explore the complex terrain of cultural migration and commodification.

This exhibition highlights the artifice of sites and objects that are intended to represent national identity—images in postcards, gift shop trinkets—and how they simplify and misrepresent the realities of lived experience. The works shown here consider the uncomfortable impact of such commodities on the process of shaping personal identity and aim to unravel the stereotypes they perpetuate. By holding these objects up for examination, and by integrating a diverse range of culturally significant markers of personal identity, such as traditional motifs, family and archival photographs, and mementos from childhood, these three artists engage in creative acts of revisiting, reworking, and reclaiming to offer new interpretations and meanings.

Heidi McKenzie, Looking Back (detail), 2023; ceramic pigment photo decals fired onto hand-rolled porcelain, cedar frame, hardware

All three artists in this exhibition inscribe, in different ways, their experiences of belonging amid the construct of what it means to be Canadian. Turning to their uniquely individual paths of migration—with diasporic roots in Iran, the Caribbean, and Pakistan—their works counter the limitations of myth-making and foreground the multi-dimensionality of intercultural experience.

Soheila Esfahani, Here: Moose, There: Rabbit, 2022; laser-cut aluminum, 24 x 34 inches each

Funding for the Art Gallery of Mississauga is provided by the City of Mississauga, the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, TD Bank Group, Rama Gaming House, and Charitable Gaming Community Good.

For more information, visit www.artgalleryofmississauga.com

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About Art Gallery of Mississauga
The Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM) is a vibrant and dynamic gallery that showcases the work of local, national and international contemporary artists. It is our mission to bring art to the community and the community to art through compelling exhibitions, interactive workshops and thought-provoking events. Located in the heart of downtown Mississauga, we offer a free and accessible space where all are welcome. The AGM is located inside Mississauga Civic Centre at 300 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, ON.

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