Anahita Norouzi. Rift examines the notion of “progress” as an instrument of colonial domination through the history of oil exploitation in Iran. Although Norouzi’s project stems from the targeted examination of a particular geopolitical and historical context, it contributes to a broader reflection on the current context, as the intersecting issues of rising imperialism and the abusive extraction of the planet’s resources lead to a global imbalance that threatens populations and jeopardizes humanity’s future. In their new film and installation works, the artist adopts a counter-prospecting approach to examine how oil and cultural infrastructures have been jointly used to control bodies and minds. Woven from original field recordings and film archives, the works intertwine historical upheavals, cultural tragedies, and tensions between expansionist ambitions and revolutionary upheavals. Furthermore, the pieces explore how colonial modernization transformed the region into a spectral space marked by ecological ruins and dispossession, thereby revealing what persists today of the dynamics of the past. Rift also explores the concepts of circulation and spillover through “imperial debris,” viewed as active mechanisms that perpetuate modes of control rather than paving the way for a post-imperial configuration.
Curators: Ariane De Blois et Louise Déry
Biography
Anahita Norouzi
Anahita Norouzi is a multidisciplinary artist, originally from Tehran and active in Montreal since 2018. She holds advanced degrees in Fine Arts and Graphic Design from Concordia University in Montreal. Her practice is research-driven, derived from marginalized histories, with a particular focus on the legacies of botanical explorations and archeological excavations, especially when scientific research became entangled in the colonial exploitation of nonWestern geographies. Articulated across a range of materials and mediums including sculpture, installation, photography, and video, her work interrogates different cultural and political perspectives on the human and non-human “other,” underlining the complex space between conflicted state of displaced people, plants, and cultural artifacts, and the responsibilities of the host country. Norouzi’s work have been shown internationally, including BIENALESUR, the International Contemporary Art Biennial of South America (Buenos Aires), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. She has received numerous grants, fellowships, and awards, most notably, the Grantham Foundation Creation Award, Liz Crockford Artist Fund Award, the Vermont Studio Center Merit. She is the winner of Contemporary art award of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2023) and Impressions residency at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (2022), and the finalist for the Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize and the Sobey Art Award (2023).
Partners
A co-production of the Musée d'art de Joliette and the Galerie de l'UQAM.
The exhibition at the Galerie de l'UQAM will be presented from November 6, 2026 to January 16, 2027. For more information, visit the website of the Galerie de l'UQAM
