The People

Gita Hashemi
artist / curator / writer
Born in Shiraz, Iran, Gita Hashemi is an award-winning transmedia artist, curator and writer whose practice is concerned with historical and contemporary issues. She routinely engages in direct relations with audiences by creating immersive environments and employing collaborative, performative and participatory approaches. Most recently, she exhibited in a solo show at the Red House Centre in Sofia in 2011, at 2012 Electrochoc Festival in Lyon, and at Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco in 2013. She has taught time-based art, (new) media and cultural studies at York and Ryerson Universities and University of Toronto. Since she entered the School of Fine Arts in Tehran University shortly after the 1979 Revolution, her motto has been: the personal is poetic, the poetic is political, the political is personal.

Ali Ammari
web design
Ali is a web designer and engineer based in San Francisco, California.

OUSTER REMIXED MONTREAL PERFORMANCE

Nika Khanjani is a film and video artist, writer and activist. She has lived and worked in the United States, China, Iran, and Canada. Her film/video work makes use of landscape photography, subtle sound design, and portraiture to invoke internal states responsive to external political and historical forces.

Ehab Lotayef was born in Egypt and grew up between Egypt, England and Iraq. He obtained his engineering degree from Ain-Shams University in Cairo in 1981, and moved to Canada in 1989 after working and living in a few countries. Ehab is a poet and an activist supporting social justice campaigns locally and abroad. He is currently deeply involved in struggles for justice, human rights and democracy in Egypt and Palestine. Ehab is an IT engineer at McGill University.

Nima Machouf est arrivée à Montréal à l’âge de 18 ans. Elle a étudié ici, s’est marié ici et a eu ses enfants ici. Elle a voyagé et travaillé dans de nombreuses parties du monde, mais elle aime Montréal et a l’intention d’y rester. Montréal est ma ville, dit-elle. Elle est épidémiologiste et fait de la recherche sur le sida dans une clinique de santé sexuelle, depuis presque 15 ans. Elle est active dans la communauté iranienne (mouvement des femmes, enseignement du persan, maison d’Iran). Elle a été élue conseillère de ville sur le Plateau, il y a 4 ans. Elle danse dans ses temps morts.

Berlin Reed is a chef, artist, activist newly based in Montreal. He is the author of The Ethical Butcher: How Thoughtful Eating Can Change Your World, released earlier this year. He is currently working on a multi-disciplinary project centered on decolonial African-American food culture, and scheming to open a Community Supported Kitchen in Montreal.

Détentrice d’une maîtrise en études des arts de l’UQAM, Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre contribue régulièrement à divers magazines et publications. Elle occupe le poste de commissaire adjointe et assistante à la direction à la galerie d’art contemporain SBC en plus de travailler comme commissaire indépendante. Au printemps 2014, elle présentera l’exposition re : Faire comme si… à la Maison des arts de Laval, avec les artistes Jacynthe Carrier, Julie Favreau et Vicky Sabourin, un projet explorant les notions de tableau vivant et de performativité de l’identité.

OUSTER REMIXED TORONTO PERFORMANCE

Sarah Abu-Sharar is a storyteller, social worker and an activist living in Toronto, Canada and working on her Masters in Expressive Art Therapy in Saas Fee, Switzerland. Sarah is passionate about the arts, traveling and human rights.

Jennifer Cypher is an American-in-Canada, newbie hockey player, academic and activist. She has a PhD in Environmental Studies from York University, where she also teaches.

Niloofar Golkar is an Iranian activist who moved to Canada in 2008. She is currently MA candidate in Social and Political Thought at York University.

Ali Mustafa is a freelance writer, photographer, and multimedia journalist. His articles have appeared in Znet, the Dominion, Upside Down World, Electronic Intifada, the Bullet, and various other sites and publications. He currently lives in Toronto, Canada.

Narayani Nadesan is an ideas junkie, an explorer of creative wisdom and a believer in the arts and technology. She is Toronto-based, by way of Jaffna-Chennai-Muscat.

Parvin Samadzadeh was born in Tehran, Iran. Since 1992, she has been working as a counselor with women survivors of domestic abuse in Toronto.

David Findlay – Toronto
installation, technology and camera maven
David Findlay is a thing-maker, writer, cameraperson and technical consultant who currently splits his time between Southern Ontario and Southern California.

Monique Mojica (Guna and Rappahannock, ensemble theatre coach, Toronto) – is a Toronto-based actor/playwright passionately dedicated to theatrical practice as acts of healing, cultural reclamation and resistance.

Philip Shepherd (performance consultant, Toronto) is a workshop leader, lecturer, private coach, actor and director, and is the author of New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-first Century.

Matt Smith (technical assistance, Toronto) is a Toronto-based musician and artist.