A rose gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushes it
In collaboration with Anne Campebell, Reza Nik, Darren Rigo, Alize Zorlutuna
Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough, 2024.
A rose gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushes it honours the memory of lost land, while exploring the ways that community can support the pursuit of familiarity and homemaking.
Through photography, ceramics, florals, and a site-specific garden installation, the artists’ works evoke the memory of the Nanaa family’s garden, courtyard, and home, lost in the Syrian war. A rose gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushes it offers layered complexities for visitors to consider the colonial history of flowers, the legacy of war on land, the imagined landscape, the displacement of people, and the longing for home.
Curatorial essay by Sandy Saad-Smith
Works:
Paradise for Thorncliffe Park, Darren Rigo & Waard Ward, archival inkjet pigment print, edition of 1. 2024
Roses for those who dream of return, Reza Nik, Alize Zorlutuna & Waard Ward. 2024
Feast for Suri Afshari; Feast for Sameena Anis; Feast for Fatemeh Gharibi, Feast for Beulah Mustachi, Feast for Rajaa Akraiem, Feast for Shoruk Alsakni; Feast for Nikou Vakili; Feast for Hassan Shahi; Feast for P, Anne Campbell & Waard Ward. 2024
Documentation images 1–2, 6–7: Darren Rigo, images 3–5, 8–11: Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy Doris McCarthy Gallery, UTSC.