Diyar Mayil in Conversation with Abbas Akhavan

Please join us for 2022 Bronfman Fellow, Diyar Mayil, in conversation with artist Abbas Akhavan. This event will be held in person and on Zoom.

Diyar Mayil is an artist working in sculpture, installation and performance. She addresses issues of comfort, discomfort, adaptation and acceptance of different bodies in public and private contexts.  She is the Laureate for the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship (2022) in Contemporary Art and the recipient of the Liz Crockford Award (2023). Her work has been supported by Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Montréal and has been shown at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, NARS Foundation in NYC and Centre Clark in MTL. She currently has a solo exhibition on view at Circa Art Actuel. Upcoming commitments include solo exhibitions at Articule and FOFA Gallery in Montréal. Originally from Istanbul, she now lives and works in Montreal.

Abbas Akhavan lives and works in Montreal. His work ranges from site-specific ephemeral installations to drawing, video, sculpture and performance. The direction of his research has been deeply influenced by the specificity of the sites where he works: the architectures that house them, the economies that surround them, and the people that frequent them. The domestic sphere, which he proposes as a forked space between hospitality and hostility, has been an ongoing area of study in his practice. More recent works have wandered onto spaces and species just outside the home: the garden, the backyard, and other domesticated landscapes.