Artist Talk with Nasim Makaremi Nia

Join us for an artist talk with our Artist in Residence, Nasim Makaremi Nia, on Thursday, March 21st, from 5:30-7 PM at the CCNL Gallery.

Nasim will be talking about her show Cryptic Dimensions.

Artist Statement: My work aims to challenge gender discrimination and censorship of women’s bodies. I am using animal symbols to critique censorship of the body and sexual aspects of human life. In my process, I am suddenly challenged by the meaning of the land. As an immigrant, the themes and ideas that were inspired by my Iranian background are finding new meaning in relation to the new land I am living on. By exploring my living experience in Iran, I find that my artwork mixes my understanding of the place with what I now call home. I question, am I lost? As an immigrant woman, I understand that things changed for me with airplanes; when my childhood, my mom and mother tongue were behind me. Things changed for me with how the bread tasted while I was homesick, and things changed for me with the meaning of long distances, which my friends summarized on my phone. But I denied all of them! I check Iran’s news every day because I am stuck in my background and cannot deny my connection between the places I call home. I ask myself, which one is more effective in my life? My personal experience as a woman in Iran or my personal experience as an immigrant artist in Newfoundland.

About the artist: Nasim Makaremi Nia is an artist from Iran who is currently living in Newfoundland and Labrador. She graduated with an MSc in solid-state Physics and is currently an MFA candidate at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University. She works in painting, drawing, printmaking, and textiles, and her Physics background takes an active role in her art practice. She has shown works in several group exhibitions, including The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (NL), Eastern Edge Gallery (NL), and Ottawa School of Art (ON). Recently, she was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant. Her art focuses on subjects such as humanity, the lives, and women’s emotions. She uses animals and products like tampons and sanitary pads as symbols to deal with sexuality to magnify gender discrimination and censorship. Nasim received the Emerging Artist Award in 2022 during the Excellence in Visual Arts Awards – VANL-CARFAC.