Sofreh,2018
Performance.
Duration: Variable, approximately 1.5 hours
As an immigrant, I am engaged in a continuous yet gradual process of building community supports for myself. In order to feel established in Canada, I have to create networks and acclimatize to constant change. Adapting to a new land is a difficult reality to navigate. How do traditions and routines evolve through contact with a new culture? How do people connect with each other despite a lack of common ground in history or language?
Growing up, my deepest and most memorable interactions occurred with food around the sofreh. The Farsi term sofreh refers to the spread around which family and friends gather to eat— typically a clean plastic sheet set upon the floor on which dishes are arranged. Re-imagined here as a participatory performance, sofreh examines the cultural cross-pollination that occurs with diet following an act of migration. Adopting the social framework of the sofreh, I create a hybrid cultural space for community convergence and connection.
First performed at Workers Arts and Heritage Centre as part of Art and Social Strata Conference (Hamilton, ON); above documentation by Grant Holt.
Below: Family members gathered for a meal around the sofreh. From my family’s photo albums, date and credit unknown.
Sofreh
Sofreh, 2018
Performance.
Duration: Variable, approximately 1.5 hours
As an immigrant, I am engaged in a continuous yet gradual process of building community supports for myself. In order to feel established in Canada, I have to create networks and acclimatize to constant change. Adapting to a new land is a difficult reality to navigate. How do traditions and routines evolve through contact with a new culture? How do people connect with each other despite a lack of common ground in history or language?
Growing up, my deepest and most memorable interactions occurred with food around the sofreh. The Farsi term sofreh refers to the spread around which family and friends gather to eat— typically a clean plastic sheet set upon the floor on which dishes are arranged. Re-imagined here as a participatory performance, sofreh examines the cultural cross-pollination that occurs with diet following an act of migration. Adopting the social framework of the sofreh, I create a hybrid cultural space for community convergence and connection.
First performed at Workers Arts and Heritage Centre as part of Art and Social Strata Conference (Hamilton, ON); above documentation by Grant Holt.
Below: Family members gathered for a meal around the sofreh. From my family’s photo albums, date and credit unknown.