Current Residents

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Current Resident: Oct 1, 2025–Nov 30, 2025

Studio #208

Ghazaleh Avarzamani

Ghazaleh Avarzamani’s research examines and disrupts hidden social hierarchies. Through her practice, she probes the fallacies and inequities embedded in inherited knowledge and cultural manuals. By crafting visual narratives that both deconstruct and reconstruct time and space, she reconfigures materials to expose dysfunction and failure, drawing on collective human memory and overlooked knowledge. Her work uncovers the extraordinary within the ordinary, offering new ways to represent what is too often taken for granted.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani has exhibited work at Hayward Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; and Frieze Sculpture, London, among others.

ghazalehavarzamani.com

Events & Exhibitions

2025 Fall Open Studios

November 14–November 15, 2025

A mashrabiya is an architectural element characteristic of traditional Islamic architecture. It is a type of projecting, oriel window enclosed with wooden latticework, and they are typically located on the upper floors of a building. These structures capture and passively cool the air by streaming it into the building. Sometimes mashrabiyas are used as screens, separating rooms inside the house, or to adorn windows, allowing for a partial view outward, but restricting the view inward. This function was often used to provide privacy for women while still allowing them to see outside. At MOCA Toronto, the intervention on the museum’s exterior wall consists of three wooden lattices that form an enclave extending into the projecting oriel window on the facade of the building. The work recalls an observation deck, one that visitors are invited to enter. As an enclosed space, it projects through the museum’s first-floor windows and becomes both a space from which to look out and a space from which to take a pause, to reflect inward. As viewers engage with the installation from either outside or inside the museum’s walls, some will become the observers, some the observed, but they cannot be both at once. The public becomes integral to the play of visibility and obscurity, and the dynamics of power associated with viewing especially within the space of the museum.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Mashrabiya, 2021, painted aluminum, 78 × 233 × 97 in. (198.12 × 591.82 × 246.38 cm).

Scratch Me and l’ll Scratch You is a sculpture made of butter based on the Stork and Fox fable: A fox invites a stork to eat with him and provides soup in a bowl, which the fox can lap up easily; however, the stork cannot drink it with its beak. The stork then invites the fox to a meal, which is served in a narrow-necked vessel. It is easy for the stork to access but impossible for the fox. The moral drawn is that the trickster must expect trickery in return and that the golden rule of conduct is for one to do to others what one would wish for oneself. The work is questioning the relation of governing politics with ephemerality of knowledge and education. My affinity for fat as an artistic material is because fat is a stand-in for art itself: Butter is talismanic substance, a symbol of survival and comfort, the most religious food and decorative for centuries; a transformative agent, rendering the surrounding situation pliant and changeable, unsettling fixed structures. Reacting to weather, architecture and the number of people surrounding it.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Scratch Me, And I’ll Scratch You, 2023, butter and wood, 98 × 118 × 98 in. (248.92 × 299.72 × 248.92 cm).

That the lover's discourse is today of an extreme solitude. This discourse is spoken, perhaps, by thousands of subjects (who knows?), but warranted by no one; it is completely forsaken by the surrounding languages: ignored, disparaged, or derided by them, severed not only from authority but also from the mechanisms of authority (sciences, techniques, arts). Once a discourse is thus driven by its own momentum into the backwater of the "unreal." exiled from all gregarity, it has no recourse but to become the site, however exiguous, of an affirmation.” Roland Barthes Happy Together - a title borrowed from the Wong Kar Wai movie(1997) - takes the form of two ceiling fans joined together by their blades. It’s forms rendered inoperable/non-functioning via their union. Immobilized and sedentary, the work is a meditation on dysfunction. Open to interpretation, the piece speaks about the turbulent cycle of infatuation and destructive love, break up, make up, and falling apart again and again. Happy Together explores love as a space that can be both inviting and potentially paralyzing; as a way to explore how games and play can be understood as tools that deconstruct, replicate, or transform the physical/metaphysical space. How it can become a war of an extreme solitude. One in which the eeriness of the everyday and the slowing of time becomes apparent.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Happy Together, 2022, wood and aluminum, 104 × 61 in. (264.16 × 154.94 cm).

Strange Temporalities is a reassemblage of a deconstructed plastic slide, the kind common to children’s playgrounds, that takes the components of a spiral slide and spreads them out into discrete parts. The slide becomes useless and also somewhat dangerous if one were to attempt to use it, embodying a failed assurance of safe enjoyment. As a space dedicated for use by children, playgrounds are sites of exploration. They exist to encourage play, exploration, exercise, and growth. The work deploys these obvious connections to childhood, but also explores notions of learning and forgetting, growth and erasure, accomplishment and failure. It aims to expose the paradoxical realities behind educational methodologies, personal aspirations and cultural manuals, by foregrounding play as an important mode of thinking while questioning what might constitute a “safe space.” Strange Temporalities manifests a psychological state that reorients the understanding of the playground as an unlikely monument, one which, through the aesthetic means of colour and shape, sheds light on the playground as an encoded cultural form.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Straneg Temporalities, 2019, segmented slide on metal armature.

Forced Afloat is a public artwork consisting of thousands of square feet of blue rubber mulch, the kind commonly used in children’s playgrounds to slow movement, limit cuts and bruises, and cushion falls. When installed, the mulch’s azure-blue colour creates the illusion of a pool—a fake body of water—an association that is reinforced by the title. The mulch is made from recycled tires and is designed to invite play whilst also limiting movement to protect against injury. Rubber tires are sixty-percent synthetic and made from petroleum-derived hydrocarbons, which makes the mulch a contradiction in construction. Although it is framed as safe and environmentally sensitive, the material is packed with highly toxic chemical compounds and presents an insidious and underlying threat. Forced Afloat dispels the illusion of safety created by playgrounds and public spaces to reveal the invisible social contracts by which people accept limitations on their collective and individual freedoms—and sometimes ignore threats to the same. Forced Afloat was researched and developed while the artist was in residence at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto; the residency was organized in partnership with the Delfina Foundation, London. At the Aga Khan, the mulch filled five large, reflective pools in front of the museum’s entrance and, although installed outdoors, the public was not allowed to touch or walk on it. When installed at the 2022 Toronto Biennial, the work was fully interactive, allowing members of the public to engage with it through touch and play. Depending upon where it is installed, and the different requirements of the museum hosting it, the work comes to symbolize either the projection of ideals of freedom and play or the challenges of institutional constraints and the rules that bind us from desired actions.

Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Straneg Temporalities, 2022, rubber mulch, 60 ft.

Residents from Canada

Ella Gonzales

Canada

Canada Council for the Arts

Studio #306

Swapnaa Tamhane

Canada, India

Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec

Studio #222

Manjot Kaur

India, Canada

Canada Council for the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council

Studio #211

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Qatar

Current Resident: Oct 1, 2025–Dec 31, 2025

Fire Station - Qatar Museums

Studio #209

Artist

Hissa Al-Khuzaei

Hissa Al-Khuzaei is a multidisciplinary artist and interior designer based in Qatar. Drawing inspiration from her surroundings, her work explores memory, storytelling, and culture. Through painting, illustration, and design, she creates visual and spatial experiences that evoke familiarity and connection. Her practice reflects a deep interest in how spaces embody shared narratives, offering a sense of place that is both personal and collective.

Hissa Al-Khuzaei has exhibited work at M7 – Msheireb Cultural Forum, Qatar; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Qatar; and Azerbaijan State Academy of Art, Azerbaijan, among others.

hissalkhuzaei.com

Events & Exhibitions

2025 Fall Open Studios

November 14–November 15, 2025

A depiction of Al Wakrah Beach near Souq Waqif Al Wakrah at sunrise, capturing the essence of the place from multiple perspectives. The painting highlights a resilient mangrove tree, symbolizing the area’s natural beauty, while blending maps of the area with ground-level viewpoints. This fusion of perspectives offers a historical narrative, showcasing the evolution of the landscape and its deep connection to the past. Through layered compositions, the artwork evokes the spirit of Al Wakrah, bridging history and present-day views in a compelling way.

Hissa Al-Khuzaei, Veins of the Coast, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 20¹³/₁₆ × 44 in. (52.83 × 111.76 cm).

This piece captures the essence of interconnectedness between Msheireb, the heart of Qatar, the world, and particularly Asia. At its center, a girl and a man playing football reflect the spirit of the Asian Cup, symbolizing how sports bring people together. Contemporary Qatari architecture is combined with traditional elements. Details of a Chinese pagoda and a grand Mughal arch, serving as a symbolic window into cultural unity. The painting illustrates how diverse nations come together through shared experiences. Fluid water represents the natural connections that bind countries across borders, while the land anchors these relationships, highlighting deep-rooted ties formed through history, tradition, and events.

Hissa Al-Khuzaei, Heart of Asia, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 39³/₈ × 31¹/₂ in. (100.08 × 80.01 cm).

"Desert Beauty" is an impressionistic painting created with a palette knife, representing a desert scene inspired by the landscapes of Qatar. Thick, textured strokes impart a three-dimensional quality, capturing the resilient and diverse vegetation, with a central tree.

Hissa Al-Khuzaei, Desert Beauty, 2023, oil on canvas, 11¹³/₁₆ × 16 in. (29.97 × 40.64 cm).

The painting depicts a tranquil desert scene of a soft sky and sparse vegetation in warm earth tones against gentle sands in Al-Ghuwayriah. The blended brushstrokes create a calm, dreamlike quality, capturing the quiet beauty of the desert.

Hissa Al-Khuzaei, Sands of Serenity, 2023, oil on canvas, 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm).

“Al-Zubara Waves" portrays the serene sunset at Al Zubara Beach in Qatar, where the sun's rays break through the clouds, casting a luminous glow on the cresting waves. The painting vibrates with the energy of the sea, contrasting the warm tones of the sunset against the cool blues of the ocean.

Hissa Al-Khuzaei, Al-Zubara Waves, 2023, oil on canvas, 59 × 40 in. (149.86 × 101.6 cm).

Residents from Qatar

Maha Al-Khater

Qatar

Fire Station - Qatar Museums

2025

Adriane de Souza

Qatar, Brazil

Fire Station - Qatar Museums

2025

Dana Agal

United States, Qatar

Fire Station - Qatar Museums

2025

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Canada, India

Current Resident: Oct 1, 2025–Dec 31, 2025

Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec

Studio #222

Artist

Swapnaa Tamhane

Swapnaa Tamhane’s research begins with the material histories of cotton and jute in India. She approaches her practice through the lens of drawing, which has expanded into papermaking and large-scale textile installations. Since 2018, she has collaborated closely with woodblock carvers, block printers, and embroiderers in Kutch, Gujarat, India, through processes of skill-sharing and exchange. Her work seeks to dissolve and decolonize the hierarchies between art, craft, and design established under British colonial rule in India.

Swapnaa Tamhane has exhibited work at Mead Art Museum, Massachusetts; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; and Surrey Art Gallery, British Columbia, among others.

tamhane.net

Events & Exhibitions

2025 Fall Open Studios

November 14–November 15, 2025

Swapnaa Tamhane, Mobile Palace, 2020-2021, block print and natural dyes on cotton, appliqué and beading, dimensions variable. Photography by Paul Eekhoff/ROM.

Swapnaa Tamhane, Mobile Palace, 2020-2021, block print and natural dyes on cotton, appliqué and beading, dimensions variable. Photo by Dennis Ha.

Swapnaa Tamhane, Never Was a Man, 2025, achadiyas, appliqué and mirrors on steel dowels, 52 × 87¹/₂ in. (132.08 × 222.25 cm). Photo by Jean-Michael Seminaro.

Swapnaa Tamhane, Cabinet, 2025, block print on cotton and mirror cabinet with achadiyas, dimensions variable. Patel Brown Gallery, Toronto. Photo by Darren Rigo.