The Immigrants

In The Immigrants: Homage to F.H. Varley, Esfahani investigates the processes involved in cultural transfer and the notion of “portable culture.” The installation is based on a painting by Varley which depicts groups of new immigrants arriving in Canada. Each plate in this installation represents a specific culture. The collection of images on plates are based on the response of selected group of people to Esfahani’s question of “what is your culture?” and asking them to provide an image that represents their culture.

 

 

This installation represents movement of culture through objects that are brought over to another culture either by immigrants or tourists. The birds are a collection of hand made porcelain birds decorated in culturally specific designs as well as found blue & white porcelain birds that Esfahani has collected through her travels in souvenir shops, flea markets, etc. Through re-contextualizing these objects as artworks, She question dissemination and reinsertion of culture.

 

 

faded stroke