Art Address is excited to be part of CONTACT Photography Festival’s 29th Edition!
Unveiling Stories of Common ObjectsThree person exhibition for CONTACT Festival
Zinnia Naqvi (Toronto), Faseeh Saleem (Oakville) and Clemens Thornquist (Boras, Sweden)
Opening Sunday, May 4, 2025 @ 2:00 - 5:00pm The Exhibition remains open until May 31.Viewing by appointment only.
This exhibition examines how everyday tasks, familiar settings, and seemingly ordinary objects in our surroundings reveal connections we forge across places and times and evoke assumed meanings through personal stories and memories that transform the ordinary into something extraordinary. In the Kitchen Series, Clemens Thornquist evokes a critical visual inquiry into form and function by juxtaposing outdoor safety gear in a domestic setting, while in an interesting contrast he examines our relationship with the environment in “Domestic Life in the Outdoors” . In Faseeh Saleem's Material Body, the viewer navigates the balance and tension between the exterior and the interior ‘body’ in relation to space. In The Professor's Desk series, Zinnia Naqvi frames an imagined office setting with archival documents and select objects, examining incidents of discrimination within academia. By emphasizing the artistry and politics inherent in everyday objects, this exhibition aligns with Art Address's vision of fostering a dynamic space that stimulates conversation and creates moments of poignant reflection within a domestic environment.
About the artists:Zinnia Naqvi (she/her) is a lens-based artist working in Tkaronto/Toronto, Canada. Her work examines issues of colonialism, cultural translation, social class and citizenship through the use of photography, video, the written word, and archival material. Recent projects have included archival and re-staged images, experimental documentary films, video installations, graphic design, and elaborate still-lives. Naqvi’s work has been shown across Canada and internationally, with exhibitions in New York, Iceland, Pakistan, and United Arab Emirates. She received a BFA in Photography Studies from Toronto Metropolitan University and an MFA in Studio Arts from Concordia University, Montreal. Currently she is a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University. Faseeh Saleem is a Pakistani-Canadian multidisciplinary research practitioner based in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Ontario. His work explores artistic design research with a focus on alternative conceptions of the body in art and design. He completed his PhD at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås, in April 2024. Faseeh co-founded DRAFTS, an artistic research project launched in 2021 that emphasizes processes of thinking, ideation, and speculation through design artifacts. His works have been exhibited internationally in renowned galleries and museums, contributing to the evolving discourse in design thinking and contemporary artistic practice. Clemens Thornquist is professor in fashion design at the Swedish School of Textiles, University of Borås. Thornqvist ́s research spans fashion, art and organization with the aim to develop fashion design through experimental research methods. Focus of the research is to develop new foundations for fashion design through methodological developments published in several forms of educational tools and volumes. Thornqvist is also Adjunct Professor at the RMIT, School of Architecture and Design.
