Hibah Mian with panelists Dalia El Charbini, Keosha Love, Taha Yousaf, and Javid Jah
September 13, 2023. By Patricia Dolor, MAC’s Reporter (Arts and Culture)
Curated by Creative Director Hibah Mian, Dreamland is all about asking the viewer: Is it possible to exist in two places at one time? Funded by a MAC MicroGrant, Dreamland is a three-part series featuring a panel, workshop and exhibit that took place on Thursday, August 31, 2023 at the Small Arms Inspection Building. The panelists included artists Javid Jah, Dalia El Charbini, Taha Yousuf and Keosha Love.
“Dreamland is all about the immigrant and refugee experience in the West, and the move from a home to a house, both in public and private, and revealing stories of trauma and transformation, and the realities of identity loss,” explains Mian.
Mian’s mother became the inspiration for this three part project, and that even after thirty years – her mother is still trying to find remnants of her home in Pakistan, here in Mississauga.
“It all started when I would take her to the shopping malls, and she would get flashbacks of back home. Remembering the vendors, the market places, the seamstresses back home…Your heart is set back there because you built that relationship with them. While my mother is here, her heart is back home,” expresses Mian.
As a curator, Mian got to handpick these stories and artists to give space to artists that don’t get the same opportunities on a regular basis. The artists bring in meaningful stories of loss and identity, who are trying to find themselves through their medium, and are trying to find the passageway from one place to another.
The two other segments of Dreamland will take place in November 2023 for the workshop and February 2024 for the exhibit.
Learn more about Dreamland by following their Instagram page: @dreamland.intl
