Student profile
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Somayeh Rashvand
Somayeh Rashvand is an educator and scholar specializing in contemporary art and cultural politics of representation. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Art History at Concordia University and holds a master’s degree in the Philosophy of Art. Somayeh has extensive experience as a university lecturer and has taught courses on contemporary art, art theory and criticism, and art and philosophy. Her doctoral research examines contemporary art as an intervention in epistemic injustice, 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.
Thesis Title: TBD
Supervisor: Dr. Balbir K. Singh
Research Interests:
- Diasporic Art & Visual Culture
- Aesthetics & Affect
- Critical Historiography
- Feminist & Queer Theory of Colour Critique
- Im/Material Cultures of SWANA
- Labour and Contemporary Art
- Social Justice
- 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:
- Dark Opacities Lab, Dr. Balbir K. Singh, Winter 2025- present.
Conferences:
- October 2025. Ornament is Not Innocent (Session Chair). UAAC Annual Conference, York University, Toronto.
- June 2025. Relinking Myth & Memory: Multimedia Art Strategies as Alternative Knowledge Production, Canadian Sociological Association Annual Conference, Toronto (Sociology of Knowledge Research Cluster of UBC, Session: The Role of Language, Emotions and Interactions in Knowing, panel discussion)
- June 2025. Precarious Smiles: Invisible labour of Diasporic Craftswomen in Contemporary Art Production. Canadian Sociological Association Annual Conference, Toronto (Feminist Sociology Research Cluster, Session: Gender at Work, panel discussion)
- May 2025. Approaching Art History through Oral History: A Collaborative Reflection on Methodology in Art History. Doc-Inter 30th Anniversary, UQAM, Montreal (Co-Presenter with Mélissa Andrianasolo)
- April 2025. Precarious Smiles: Invisible labour of Diasporic Craftswomen in Contemporary Art Production. Visual Arts, Narrative, and Social Class, Turku, Finland (Online Presentation).
- April 2025. Distant Mourning, Queer Care: Po B. K. Lomami’s Affective Journey Through Performance. AGIC 2025, Journeying: Movements, Passages, Horizons. Concordia University, Montreal.