Zinnia Naqvi
Yours to discover
08 Jan - 19 Feb 2022
The gallery Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is proud to present Zinnia Naqvi's solo exhibition: "Yours to Discover (2019 - ongoing)"
This project looks at found photographs of Naqvi's family visiting popular tourist destinations in Ontario as a means of re-examining commonly accepted ideals of Canadian culture. The images in the forefront are of the artist's family, taken in the late 1980s when they were considering the prospect of immigrating to Canada.
Naqvi examines three specific sites and the way they have been staged to educate the public on Canadian ideals and values. At Niagara Falls, we witness the greatness and superior force of Canadian natural phenomena; at the CN Tower we understand new technological and architectural advancement, and at Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village, we observe miniature examples of ideal models of communities.
Within the larger photo frame, Naqvi creates her own stage and pairs artifacts from her childhood, toys, research materials, excerpts from the family album, and board games which have similar educational values to the ones we are meant to gain from visiting these tourist destinations. These images are created within the home-studio, a space in which the artist makes findings and interprets what it means to be an acceptable Canadian citizen. In this project Naqvi uses the family archive to question her and her family's place as settler immigrants in Canada, and the structures and strategies that have allowed them to be part of the larger colonial project of this nation.
This project looks at found photographs of Naqvi's family visiting popular tourist destinations in Ontario as a means of re-examining commonly accepted ideals of Canadian culture. The images in the forefront are of the artist's family, taken in the late 1980s when they were considering the prospect of immigrating to Canada.
Naqvi examines three specific sites and the way they have been staged to educate the public on Canadian ideals and values. At Niagara Falls, we witness the greatness and superior force of Canadian natural phenomena; at the CN Tower we understand new technological and architectural advancement, and at Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village, we observe miniature examples of ideal models of communities.
Within the larger photo frame, Naqvi creates her own stage and pairs artifacts from her childhood, toys, research materials, excerpts from the family album, and board games which have similar educational values to the ones we are meant to gain from visiting these tourist destinations. These images are created within the home-studio, a space in which the artist makes findings and interprets what it means to be an acceptable Canadian citizen. In this project Naqvi uses the family archive to question her and her family's place as settler immigrants in Canada, and the structures and strategies that have allowed them to be part of the larger colonial project of this nation.