Giving members of Visual Arts Nova Scotia an opportunity to create an exhibition of their work.

TOPOPHILIA

Hangama Amiri

Nov 15 – Dec 17

Lunenburg based artist and recipient of the Portia White Protege award, Hangama Amiri presents a series of large scale paintings in the corridor gallery from November 15 to December 17. Exploring the connection between human emotions and the natural environment, Amiri describes the series:

A body of painting exploring the theme of Topophilia, a term coined by geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, defined as “emotional connections between physical environment and human beings.” Topo (place) philia (love of) or the sense of places, entwines the idea of natural environment with human emotions or memory. This body of painting, developed over one year, expands my overwhelming experiences with the land-scape. Through the medium of colour, each painting on birch panel depicts landscapes that examines ecstasy, nostalgia, and tranquility.

Born in 1989, Hangama Amiri grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan before immigrating to Canada in 2005. She graduated from NSCAD University with a BFA (Major in Fine Arts) in 2012, and has exhibited her paintings in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Her first solo exhibition, The Wind-Up Dolls of Kabul, was displayed at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in the fall of 2011. Two paintings from The Wind-Up Dolls series, were selected for IV Passion for Freedom Festival London (UK), 2012. Her most recent collaborative project, “Dome of Secret Desires” was shortlisted at the 7th International Arte Laguna Prize 2013, in Venice, Italy and also has been shortlisted at 5th Passion For Freedom Festival London (UK), 2013. She has won the 2011 Lieutenant Governor’s Community Voluntarism Award, received an honourable mention for the 2008 Newcomer Achievement Award and a Nova Scotia Culture and Heritage Grant recipient in 2012. She is the winner of 2013 Portia White Protege Award. Currently Amiri maintains an Art Studio in Lunenburg, NS.

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) office at the Halifax Seaport, since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm.

For further information regarding the Corridor Gallery or this exhibition, please contact:

Becky Welter-Nolan
Programming Coordinator
Visual Arts Nova Scotia
1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, NS B3H 4P7
902.423.4694 1.866.225.8267 f: 902.422.0881
communicate@visualarts.ns.ca