Biography
Somaye Farhan is an interdisciplinary artist from Iran, now based in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal, working across sculpture, installation, performance, and moving image. Her practice explores the politicization of women’s bodies, displacement, and memory. She holds a BFA with Great Distinction in Studio Arts from Concordia University (2024).
She often collaborates with Soha Zandi, particularly on film work. Her work has been exhibited at Siddhartha Art Gallery (Kathmandu), La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, FOFA Gallery, and Maison de la Culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal (Montreal). Their films Fade-In and This is not a Scarf premiered at the Korean Film Festival Canada (2025) and received an award at the NYC Diaspora Film Festival (2024), respectively.
Artist Statement
I explore the politicization of women’s bodies, displacement, and memory through sculpture, installation, performance, and moving image. My work approaches objects as containers of personal and collective memory, examining how displaced communities reconstruct memories of home and their identity through the objects they carry with them into exile.
My practice draws on transnational feminist and diasporic frameworks, focusing on culturally significant objects like headscarves, Persian carpets, and items they carry into exile. These objects embody layered meanings and histories. For instance, headscarves represent the politicization of women’s bodies: Iranian women were forced to unveil in the 1930s and forced to veil after 1979. In both instances, women’s agency was denied. Through mixed-media installations combining sculpture, video, and performance, I engage with these objects and their complex histories. I often work collaboratively, engaging directly with marginalized communities to create spaces where underrepresented stories can be seen and heard.