Moozhan Ahmadzadegan: Where Are You Really From?

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Moozhan Ahmadzadegan, "Where Are You Really From?" 2020

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Where Are You Really From? A new exhibition at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art prompts visitors to contemplate the ways in which we communicate.

Where Are You Really From? is an exploration by artist Moozhan Ahmadzadegan into the complex intersections of ethnicity, cultural hybridity, and nationality.

Ahmadzadegan, a Kelowna artist who recently completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts at UBC Okanagan, is interested in the ritual conversation he finds himself having quite often as an Okanagan resident. He is often asked the question “where are you from?” He responds, as a second-generation Canadian, that he is from Canada. The follow-up question is almost always the same, “where are you really from?”.

Artistic and Administrative Director, Lorna McParland expands “This exhibition offers a unique perspective on conversations we often overhear in our community, or experience first hand. Ahmadzadegan’s investigation into the ways we navigate our own experiences, identities and our perception of the ‘other’ prompts viewers to consider their own biases and challenge what we understand to be ‘local’.”

Where Are You Really From? is on view at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art in the Window Gallery from November 20th 2020 until January 9th of 2021.

Moozhan Ahmadzadegan is a Canadian emerging artist. He received his BFA from the University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus) with a Major in Visual Arts and a Minor in Art History and VIsual Culture. He currently works and resides on the unceded and traditional territory of the Syilx people known as the Okanagan, BC.