Online Residency 2022

Artist Statement

I always had a deep fascination for people’s photographs.

As a child, I could spend hours going through old photo albums and shoe boxes filled with family pictures. Most of the faces I would look at would be unfamiliar to me but I would be very attracted to them. I would look at their clothing, their hairstyles, their expressions and gestures. They fascinated me. They still do.

My current work acts as an homage to all these strangers who inspired me through their family portraits. For about 5 years now I’ve collected their old discarded pictures; forgotten, thrown out and sold at auctions. I’m looking for a place where the viewer comes face to face with strangers’ memories through intimate paintings. Sometimes dark and often melancholic, these works I hope, will shed light on some of our own forgotten memories. We all have stories from our past, hidden deep within us.

Biography

Jihane Mossalim’s works have been exhibited in Canada, the United States, and Portugal. She has also created works for international horror and fantasy publications. In 2018, she received the Glencross Family Award in Art Education from Concordia University. In addition to her studio practice in Montreal, she also serves as the Fine Arts Director of the Convergence Initiative, a non-profit organization that helps promote neuroscience, the arts, and the collaboration between these two fields.

She is represented in Ontario, Canada by Sivarulrasa Gallery: https://sivarulrasa.com/artists/jihane-mossalim/

Jihane currently resides in Montreal, Canada where she is completing her MA in Art Education at Concordia University.

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