All Eyes on Me: The Violence of Discrimination

Art and Activism in Contemporary Global Landscapes Series

All Eyes on Me: The Violence of Discrimination

The Islamic Art & Material Culture Collaborative (IAMCC) is pleased to announce the launch of the second iteration of its online conversation series. This new series entitled Art and Activism in Contemporary Global Landscapes will take consist of 4 monthly sessions held on Zoom on Saturdays from February to May at 11 a.m. EST. Our 2023 series aims to highlight the intersectionality and dynamism of art and activism by hosting conversations with contemporary artists from Islamic contexts who create works of art that demand social and political change. All sessions are FREE but registration via Eventbrite is required.

This conversation will highlight Kaashif Ghanie’s artistic practice which responds to racial discrimination. This session will discuss Adaptation, a series of ceramic vessels crafted by Ghanie embodying the look of traditional Islamic vessels but scaled to least 10 times larger to almost human proportions. These works function as vessels in a dual sense-- designed to hold physical matter but also acting as containers for human emotion and experience. A first-generation Muslim Guyanese Canadian, Ghanie considered stereotypes and his own experiences with Islamophobia and reflected these sentiments in his pots, seeing the vessels as people, who adapt to their environments, cracking under pressure, breaking, and scarring but also healing and continuing to stand tall. We will explore the public response to these vessels along with Ghanie’s contribution of adding and building onto a discourse of deconstructing discrimination and furthering a dialogue for the general public awareness. Through the public exhibitions of these sculptural Islamic forms, Ghanie encourages discriminated communities to speak their truths and fortify their resilience.

Presenter Details:

Kaashif Ghanie -or Kaas, is a first-generation mixed Guyanese Canadian Muslim born in London, Ontario the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe. Ghanie is a Bealart Alumni and completed an undergraduate degree in Ceramics and a Minor in Art History at NSCAD University in Kjipuktuk/Halifax in 2016. Post-graduating, he completed the Centre for Crat AIR Craft Residency (2017-2018) and the CEEDS Business program (2019) in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. Both experiences have helped him launch his contemporary ceramic artistic practice and his functional pottery business, KG Ceramics. Ghanie is one of the three ceramic artists working and operating the ceramic studio in the Wonderneath Art Society.

Hosted by:

Dr. Heba Mostafa has held positions at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Kansas and the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence. Her research explores the formation of Islamic architecture through the lens of early Islamic sectarianism and governance and the intersections of politics, the sacred and architecture. A focus of her research is the interface of Islam with late antiquity, Christianity and Judaism through commemorative architecture, pilgrimage and ritual practice. Her two most recent projects explore Davidic commemoration in Jerusalem throughout the Islamic Medieval period and the spatial repertoires of Nile veneration in Medieval Cairo.

Sanniah Jabeen, PhD candidate in Art History at the University of Toronto and Senior Fellow at the IAMCC.

About the IAMCC

The Islamic Art and Material Culture Collaborative (IAMCC), is a research network based in Toronto that brings together the capacities and resources of the University of Toronto (UofT), the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and the Aga Khan Museum (AKM). The IAMCC fosters advanced research in the study of Islamic art and material culture by acting as an inclusive space for researchers, curators, and students.

About the IIS

The IAMCC is housed at the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) at the University of Toronto. The IIS at the University of Toronto develops research projects that fill critical gaps in society’s understanding of Islam and Muslims.

By centering Islam and Muslims, the IIS offers a critical viewpoint from which we can better understand our world.