Pattern (dis)Placement

Pattern (dis)Placement aims to destabilize the origin of culture and reconstruct Homi Bhabha’s “the third space of in-betweeness”: a site of cultural translation, where locations of cultures are negotiated and new narratives are adapted and hybridized. In this body of work, Esfahani focuses on the Willow Pattern as a constructed cultural fable and simultaneously emphasizes and disrupts familiar collected objects in order to dissolve traditional boundaries between cultures.

04 Soheila Esfahani My Grandmother Had One mixed media on collected ceramic plates 2019

My Grandmother Had One, Mixed media on collected ceramic plates, 2019

07 Soheila Esfahani My Grandmother Had One mixed media on collected ceramic plates 2019 detail 3

My Grandmother Had One, detail, Mixed media on collected ceramic plates, 2019

06 Soheila Esfahani My Grandmother Had One mixed media on collected ceramic plates 2019 detail 2

My Grandmother Had One, detail, Mixed media on collected ceramic plates, 2019

05 Soheila Esfahani My Grandmother Had One mixed media on collected ceramic plates 2019 detail 1

My Grandmother Had One, detail, Mixed media on collected ceramic plates, 2019

08 Soheila Esfahani Variations on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25 custom ceramic decal on ceramic plates 2019

Variation on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25, custom ceramic decals on ceramic plates, 2019

09 Soheila Esfahani Variations on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25 custom ceramic decal on ceramic plates 2019 detail 1

Variation on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25, custom ceramic decals on ceramic plates, 2019

11 Soheila Esfahani Variations on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25 custom ceramic decal on ceramic plates 2019 detail 3

Variation on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25, custom ceramic decals on ceramic plates, 2019

10 Soheila Esfahani Variations on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25 custom ceramic decal on ceramic plates 2019 detail 2

Variation on Willow Pattern Birds 1-25, custom ceramic decals on ceramic plates, 2019

01 Soheila Esfahani Birds-Patterns disPlaced 3D printed Resin 2019

Birds: Pattern (dis)Placed, 3D printed Resin, 2019

02 Soheila Esfahani Birds-Patterns disPlaced 3D printed Resin 2019 detail 1

Birds: Pattern (dis)Placed, 3D printed Resin, 2019

03 Soheila Esfahani Birds-Patterns disPlaced 3D printed Resin 2019 detail 2

Birds: Pattern (dis)Placed, 3D printed Resin, 2019

fense

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Fence, glass paint on photograph, 2019

pergola

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Pagoda ,glass paint on photograph, 2019

three men on bridge

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Three Men on Bridge, glass paint on photograph, 2019

two birds

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Two Birds, glass paint on photograph, 2019

weeping willow

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Weeping Willow, glass paint on photograph, 2019

boat

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Boat, glass paint on photograph, 2019

orange tree

Seven Must Have Elements of Willow Pattern: Orange Tree, glass paint on photograph, 2019

CURRENT EXHIBITION

Are You Buying These with Loonies or Toonies?

Solo exhibition curated by Shannon Bingeman

Are You Buying These with Loonies or Toonies? responds to the question of “where are you from?”, which many immigrants are often asked, by exploring Tom Thomson’s paintings from a diasporic lens. Esfahani explores the notion of being Canadian by commissioning another artist (Jessica Joyce) to create replicas of three Thomson’s paintings in order to destabilize the notion of original through the act of translation. As Bhabha emphasizes translation here is “a way of imitating, but in a mischievous, displacing sense—imitating an original in such a way that the priority of the original is not reinforced, but by the very fact that it can be simulated, copied, transferred, transformed …. The ‘originary’ is always open to translation so that it can never be said to have a totalised prior moment of being or meaning—an essence.” (Rutherford, 210) She also creates 3D printed multiples of these paintings to further disrupt the idea of a static Canadian identity.

In this body of work through making copies of Thomson’s paintings in various media, interventions on found objects, collecting ceramic ducks and loons as the “Canadians”, and utilizing stereotypical Canadiana imagery and Iranian cultural motifs, Esfahani aims to dislocate Canadianess, investigate stereotype as otherness, and destabilize the subjectification and cultural identification that occurs through stereotypical discourse. This body of work simultaneously emphasizes and disrupts familiar motifs representing Canada in order to dissolve traditional boundaries between cultures.

COMMISION PROJECT

Celebrating Canada’s Diversity: Transcendence and Tranquility

Transcendence and Tranquility is a limited mintage coin as part of the Royal Canadian Mint’s Celebrating Canada’s Diversity Collection designed by Canadian artist Soheila Esfahani featuring a turquoise gemstone surrounded by engraved patterns that celebrate the cultural heritage of Iranian Canadians, from today to those of Ancient Persia and beyond. While a paisley motif surrounds the gemstone centrepiece, a repeating maple leaf (symbolizing Canadian identity) and lotus flower (inspired by the reliefs of Persepolis) form a continuous circular pattern that also incorporates a Shah Abbasi floral motif and Eslimi patterns from traditional carpet designs. (Text adopted from Canadian Mint’s website).

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