January 18th – February 16, 2019

Opening Reception: Friday, January 18th, 7-10 pm

Arezu Salamzadeh

Download Essay by Abby Ho

Arezu Salamzadeh is a Toronto-born artist who can’t speak Cantonese.

Fortune Flavors the Bold is a room warded for good luck, inspired by the symbols and spiritual cures of the household in which the artist grew up with her mother, an immigrant from Hong Kong. Like many second generation children who grew up in the West, she  examines what it means to be part of a distant culture, whose language one does not speak. Salamzadeh’s understanding of Chinese culture is informed by observing her mother performing Chinese Traditional Medicine rituals and superstitious actions .

In this ‘room for good luck’, focus is given to ceramic lucky cats, dragons, ginseng, and other objects endowed with the ability to change our futures. The unification of these works is an attempt to live vicariously through these mischievous dictators of fate and partake in the sharing good fortune.

Documentation by Polina Teif