Par Nair
Par Nair
Statement
The primary focus of my research is to investigate and explore melancholia in diaspora using decolonial methods and a return to ancestral knowledge and practices. Through objects and memories that are both intimate and nomadic, I wish to consider the effects of assimilation and fragmentation that migrant experiences hold and center the diasporic body as a fragmented and hybrid archive of dualities. Using interdisciplinary practices that mix realities and center performative film, installations, embroidery, digital collage, poetry and short stories, my work is a play on expectations and translations of racialized and migrant bodies. I attempt to tell stories about ritual, hair braiding, symmetry, pattern and discipline. Stories about mothers and grandmothers, about monsters, about memory, about loss and longing. I aim to empower racialized bodies through ritual while celebrating symbols of beauty like the brown skin and the black braid that have been undermined by colonialism, wielding ancestral knowledges as a way of offering, of healing, and of sharing. My work makes note of oppressive structures and attempts to creatively present colonial damage by creating decolonized safe spaces of healing while privileging the examination of diaspora through multiple, diverse, and intersubjective lenses. It is a blatant celebration of the differences in media and interdisciplinarity to “disrupt” the white cube rhetoric through decoration while evoking a sense of feeling “at home” to honor the mother, the motherland, the mother tongue and rituals lost to the onslaught of overwhelming eurocentrism and patriarchal colonialism. The eventual loss and longing felt by racialized and migrant bodies become the overarching themes, focal point and love language of my research and art practice.
Bio
Par Nair (she/her) is an Indian born interdisciplinary artist and researcher who lives and makes in the GTA. Her practice which centers oil paintings, digital collage, installation, performative film and creative writing focus on dual identities, hybrid cultures and fragmented realities of migrants. Par has recently acquired her MFA in Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design from OCAD University. Her solo installation, “dear amma” was recently shown at The Public Gallery (Toronto). Par is the recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2021-22), The Career Launcher Prize (2022) and Propeller Gallery’s Emerging Artist Award (2020). She currently holds the position of sponsored member at Propeller Art Gallery and assists the gallery with social media and marketing tasks.
CV
Education
- MFA Interdisciplinary Art, Media, Design, 2022 OCADU, Toronto, ON.
- BFA Drawing and Painting (with distinction), 2020 OCADU, Toronto, ON.
- Fine Art Advanced Diploma (with honours), 2015 Georgian College, Barrie, ON.
- Arts Fundamentals, 2012 Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, ON.
- BA (honours) 3D Animation, 2008 University of Wales, Chennai.
Solo/Group Exhibitions
- 2022 - It’s personal, Parkview Gallery, Etobicoke (UPCOMING).
- 2022 - Circularity of (un)knowing, Mayten’s, Toronto (UPCOMING).
- 2022 - All of a sudden, Annual juried show, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto.
- 2022 - Grad Ex 107, OCADU’s annual grad show, Toronto.
- 2022 - Echoes, juried show, Dignam and Ruth Upjohn Gallery, Toronto.
- 2022 - home sick, solo exhibition, Graduate Gallery, OCADU, Toronto.
- 2022 - dear amma, solo installation, The Public Gallery, Toronto.
- 2022 - Salon 16: Love is in the air, Propeller Art gallery, online show.
- 2022 - Why do you create?, Visual Arts Mississauga Gallery, Mississauga.
- 2021 - Diaspora Babes, CGAC, online show.
- 2021 - Collective Experience, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto
- 2021 - Pop Up Member Show, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto
- 2021 - SU Spring Festival, live streamed.
- 2021 - Salon 15, Propeller Art Gallery, online show.
- 2021 - Sanitized Activity, Propeller Art Gallery, online show.
- 2020 - BFA Thesis Exhibition, Social Distance Gallery, online show.
- 2020 - Summer 2020 Exhibition, Gradcurate, online show.
- 2020 - Grad Ex 105, Propeller Art Gallery, online show.
- 2020 - Painting the other, Isolation x Creation, online show.
- 2020 - Class of 2020, Gathered Gallery, online show.
- 2020 - Festival of the Body (juried), OCADU, Toronto
- 2020 - ArtProm(Fundraiser), OCADU, Toronto
- 2019 - Off the hook silent art auction, Maclaren Art Centre, Barrie
- 2019 - Archiving Deconstructed Identities, group show, Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto
- 2016 - Off the hook silent art auction, Maclaren Art Centre, Barrie
- 2015 - #interrogate, two person show, Art in house, Barrie
- 2015 - SDVA Scholarship Show(juried), Georgian College, Barrie
- 2015 - Off the hook silent art auction, Maclaren Art Centre, Barrie.
- 2014 - Assisted with intaglio printing for Bob Massachusetts, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2014 - By the dozen, group show, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2014 - Hot off the press, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2014 - SDVA Scholarship show (juried), Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2014 - Suddenly Strung, the front room gallery, Barrie.
- 2013 - SDVA Scholarship Show (juried), Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2013 - Volunteer at Off the hook silent art auction, Maclaren Art Centre, Barrie.
- 2013 - Hot off the press, Georgian College, Barrie.
Work
- 2022 - Marketing Team Member, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto (ongoing/volunteering)
- 2021 - Multimedia Editor & Social Media Manager for Beyond the Frame Podcast, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto (volunteering)
- 2020 - Sponsored Member, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto. (ongoing)
Awards
- 2021-22 - Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), OCADU, Toronto.
- 2022 - Career Launcher Prize, The Public, Toronto.
- 2021 - TSA Bursary, OCADU, Toronto.
- 2021 - William & Phyllis Waters Bursary, OCADU.
- 2021 - Charles Patcher Bursary, OCADU.
- 2020 - Emerging Artist Award, Propeller Gallery, Toronto.
- 2020 - Project 31 - Drawing and Painting Award, OCADU, Toronto.
- 2015 - Excellence in Studio Award, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2015 - Barrie Arts Club Scholarship, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2014 - William Moore Award, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2014 - Barrie Arts Club Scholarship, Georgian College, Barrie.
- 2013 - Peer Print making Award, Georgian College, Barrie
Other
- 2022 - “OCADU Student work on view at Public Gallery” article by Shauna Doherty for OCAD News.
- 2022 - Select paintings displayed at Metro Condo Lobby, Toronto.
- 2021 - Artist Interview on Beyond the Frame Podcast, Toronto.
- 2021 - Painting mention in Artoronto article, “Propeller Art Gallery celebrates 25 years”.
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