Student profile
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Somayeh Rashvand
Somayeh Rashvand is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in contemporary art and cultural politics of representation. She is pursuing her PhD in Art History at Concordia University and holds a master’s degree in Philosophy of Art from Tehran University of Art. With extensive experience as a university lecturer, Somayeh has taught courses in contemporary art, art theory and criticism, and art and philosophy. Her doctoral research explores art as a form of alternative knowledge production, focusing on feminist and queer debates within diasporic contemporary art practices from SWANA. She is particularly interested in decolonial approaches to art history and anti-oppressive methodologies in her research.
Thesis Title: TBD
Supervisor: Dr. Balbir K. Singh
Research Interests:
- Diasporic Art and Visual Cultures
- Aesthetics & Affect
- Critical Historiography
- Feminism & Queer Theory of Colour Critiques
- Im/Material Cultures of SWANA
- Intersections of Labour & Contemporary Art
- Critical Curatorial Practices
Teaching Assistantships:
• ARTH 202: Perspectives in Art History, Dr. Julia Skelly, Winter 2025.
• ARTH 201: Perspectives in Art History, Dr. Steven Stowell, Fall 2024.Dark
Research Assistantships:
- Opacities Lab, Dr. Balbir K. Singh, Winter 2025- present.
Conferences:
- Visual Arts, Narrative, and Social Class, Turku, Finland (April 2025) Precarious Smiles: A Narrative of Diasporic Craftswomen in Contemporary Art Production in Canada, University of Turku (Online Presentation)
- AGIC 2025: Journeying – Movements, Passages, Horizons, Montreal, Canada (April 2025) Distant Mourning, Queer Care: Po B. K. Lomami’s Affective Journey Through Performance, Concordia University (Oral Presentation)
- Doc-Inter 30th Anniversary, UQAM, Montreal, Canada (May 2025) Approaching Art History through Oral History: A Collaborative Reflection on Methodology in Art History (Oral Presentation)
- Canadian Sociological Association Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada (June 2025) Relinking Myth and Memory: Multimedia Art Strategies as Alternative Knowledge Production (Sociology of Knowledge Research Cluster, UBC & Ualberta)