This project was realized during a five-week-long residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, as part of the Spring-2022 BAiR Program.

This body of work draws from ancient Near Eastern artefacts with a focus on foundation figures, cylinder seals and cuneiform tablets representing basket carriers. Whether depicted through ritualistic offerings to supreme deities or literal portrayals of the everyday, vessel bearers have continued their passage throughout history and into contemporary Middle Eastern traditions. To Hold, Arabic الحمل’, is a multimedia installation consisting of ceramic and bronze sculptures inspired by Mesopotamian mythological figures, 3D printed basket carriers, and a single-channel video. This project aims to connect the history surrounding the functions of baskets, bowls, and vessels as containers, from a physical and mystical lens, interlaced with its bearer. How do ancient traditions become cultural markers and shape systems in the present? Is an ongoing question in my artistic research.

Documentation is from the open studios at the Banff Centre.

This BAiR-2022 residency was generously supported by the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.