Hajar Moradi is an Iranian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Toronto, Canada. Moradi’s practice spans painting, installation, and video to explore the complex politics of identity and belonging. Relying on the power of art as a catalyst for transformative conversations, Moradi’s work delves into subjects such as memory, displacement, female resilience in facing oppression, and the multifaceted nature of female identity in contemporary society.
Hajar Moradi holds a BFA (double major in graphic design and illustration) from Shahed Art University in Tehran, Iran. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants from major national and international cultural organizations, including the Canada Council for the Arts (2020); the Ontario Arts Council (2017) and (2022); the Canadian Screen Award Nomination for the best animated short (2023); Best Short Animation at FIC AUTOR Festival (2022); Special Jury Mention award for her animation film, The Shadow of My Life, at Mexico International Short Film Festival (2022); the third prize for her animation film The Shadow of My Life at Mecal Pro, the Barcelona International Short and Animation Film Festival (2022); and the First Prize for her short animated music video at the Farhang International Film Festival (2014).
Her work has been exhibited and screened across North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East, including at the Aga Khan Museum and the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto; the Harlem International Film Festival in New York; The Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland; the Barnes Film Festival in London, UK; and the Mexico International Short Film Festival, Mexico.
Hajar Moradi is also the co-founder and Creative Director of Vivido Studio in Toronto, Canada.
Interwoven is an interactive installation that utilizes the traditional practice of gabbeh rug weaning to celebrate the vital role of storytelling in building communities. Gabbeh weaving is one of the traditional crafts of Moradi’s ancestral Bakhtiari tribe. One of the key characteristics of the gabbeh rug is that its design is usually improvised; the tribal weavers depict scenes, events, and stories that are significant to them and their community.
To enact this process of communal storytelling, Moradi sets up her loom stand in the presence of gallery visitors and invites them to contribute their own stories to the gabbeh by selecting the yarn colors for her to incorporate in real time as she weaves. The faces painted on the loom stand represent the Bakhtiari women who watch over their descendant as she leans intoher own heritage to unify disparate narratives into a common contemporary tale.
Interwoven debuted at Nuit Blanche 2018 in Toronto, where Moradi engaged the audience in a 12-hour performance at the Bata Shoe Museum. The piece was then moved to the Agha Khan Museum. More than 2,500 individuals have participated in this collaborative piece; their interwoven stories form an inclusive vision that embraces our diversity and celebrates our shared human experiences.
In addition to honoring her own cultural heritage, Interwoven invites the audience to contemplate the different ways in which our diverse traditions can enrich our contemporary artistic dialogues.
Presented Installation:
Interwoven, 2022
Price available upon request. All inquiries should be directed to info@vivaalliance.ca.