Artist Statement
The images of the Afghan girl born during U.S. evacuation flight and Afghan baby over the wall come to my mind while thinking about “Safe and respectful maternal and newborn care”. We are connected to each other through humanity and land. I feel when they are suffering in the farthest part of the world; I feel the pain in their heart. We go into our solitude, anxiety and sorrow, with the news about people who are in unbearable circumstances in other parts of the world. The two submitted works done with acrylic and oil on canvas, depicting a lonely female figure in different positions in her solitude. The patterns in this series are inspired by traditional Persian motifs.

Artist Bio
Raha Fard is an Iranian-Canadian, Toronto based artist. She had Master’s degree in telecommunication engineering, before studying drawing and painting at OCAD University. She works in multiple disciplines such as drawing and painting, installation, digital art, and making short films to question how people are interconnected through their identity in different parts of the world despite their distance and their differences. Her works are reflections of her own lived experience in witnessing people who are suffering, due to social or political issues in other parts of the world. She had group exhibitions in Iran and Canada, and got “Online International Learning Residency”, collaboration between OCAD U and Mapua University in the Philippines