Shaya Ishaq, an Ottawa born and raised interdisciplinary artist and undergraduate student in the Fibres & Material Practices program is the first recipient of a research fellowship from Concordia’s Black Perspectives Office.
“Ishaq’s application reminded us of where we come from and where we hope to go,” says Annick Maugile Flavien, founding coordinator and manager of the Black Perspectives Office.
“Her ability to call in community through practice is a gift that needs to be valued and nurtured. We feel so grateful to have Shaya as our research fellow, as her work so strongly embodies the values of our office, and we look forward to supporting her continued success.”
Ishaq is also a research fellow with the Textiles and Materiality Research Cluster as part of the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology.
What brought you to this point in your journey as an artist?
Shaya Ishaq: Years of focus and commitment to my art practice and my deep curiosity and wonder with the medium I work with. I am very passionate about textiles and its capacity for storytelling and archiving histories. It really informs how I see the world around me and offers a window into history and current events if we really look deeper.
I’ve been able to find and refine my creative voice over the years and am incredibly grateful for my time as a student here at Concordia, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and formative residency experiences in the Maritimes. These have also shaped my journey to where I’m at now.
What is it that inspires you and drives your need to create?
SI: The world around me inspires my drive to create in response to my lived experience and sometimes in response to structural questions of the moment.
Language is such a powerful tool that can create, destroy, connect and divide us and I’m interested in how expansive it can be. I’m inspired by the subjectivity yet human reality of liminal experiences. The politics of space and how we relate to each other within it is something that also inspires me.
What materials do you feel most drawn to and why?
SI: I am drawn to cotton yarn as my primary material for weaving wefts because it is strong and reliable. These days I also feel drawn to cotton rope and have been incorporating it into my ceramics, fibre, and wearable studio experiments.
Another fibre material I am drawn to is wool roving. I love how its texture completely transforms through a mesmerizing technique called wet felting.
My heart is forever bound to clay because of how grounding it can feel just to simply hold it in your hand. You have to understand its seasons and its properties to best manipulate it. All materials require me to listen deeply.