Time and Date: Thursday, September 21, 2023, 5:30pm – 6pm
Location: 2nd floor galleries, AWE
Cost: This event is part of AWE at Night
Tina Rouhandeh is a visual artist working across calligraphy and fiber art. Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1977, Rouhandeh showed an early interest in art and began creating works at a young age. After studying Persian calligraphy and illumination at the Iranian Calligraphy Association in Tehran, she embarked on a career in the arts. Her work bridges classical techniques with contemporary art. She draws inspiration from Persian calligraphy and seeks to express her own personal and cultural experiences. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group and solo shows, and several of her pieces are part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s textile collection. She continues to create new works and push the boundaries of her medium, striving to challenge herself and engage viewers in a meaningful way. Rouhandeh currently lives and works in Windsor, where she maintains a studio and teaches calligraphy and hand stitching.
Muriel N. Kahwagi is a writer and cultural worker, working primarily across publishing and programming. Her research is centered on the politics of archiving oral poetry and histories; and the act of listening as a form of preservation in and of itself. She has held editorial roles at both the Sursock Museum (2015-2021) and the Arab Image Foundation (2021-2022) in Beirut, and since 2022 has been a programmer at the Toronto Arab Film Festival. Her first edited volume, Al Qasid: The real and imagined histories of sung poetry, brings together contributions from scholars, artists, and composers, exploring the politics of archiving sung poetry, and the mediation and transmission of memories and folkloric traditions. This publication, released in November 2022, was supported by the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) and Hammana Artist House.
