Jamelie Hassan is participating in the group exhibit hosted by The Aga Khan Museum:  Light: Visionary Perspectives.  The exhibit explores light as both a concept and an artistic medium. Taking advantage of the museum’s unique architecture, the show features installations by renowned creators including Pakistani American artist Anila Quayyum Agha, whose illuminated lattice sculptures cast intricate patterns on walls; painter and Stanford lecturer Ala Ebtekar, who uses photo­sensitive materials to turn the pages of books into night-sky images; and Governor General’s Award–­winning artist Jamelie Hassan, who uses neon signage to call attention to the power of language and how it intersects with light. Aga Khan Museum, opens July 13

Jamelie Hassan has contributed a recent glass tile mosaic, "1.618", to Future Vison silent auction for the KWAG. Visit the auction page here. Online bidding deadline began Nov. 2 and ends on December 11, 2020 at noon.

Artist statement
I have had a lifelong interest in the art of mosaics and have done research on this ancient art in museum collections in France, Italy, Spain, Portugual, North Africa and throughout the Middle East. Technically, I began to learn this process through a workshop lead by Indigenous artist Brenda Collins to create a collaborative mosaic tile work of a Medicine Wheel with my family. Previously, I had attended a wampum workshop with Brenda and she had added mosaic tile workshops to her skills.

Several of my first glass mosaic tile artworks incorporated common expressions in Arabic Kufic-style script. I then moved to mathematical concepts as a means to reference our relationship in Western culture to Arabic number and mathematical systems. The origin of the Fibonaccio number system and the golden mean 1.618 is from Arabic - Indian concepts of mathematics yet this origin has been erased or absent from common knowledge. Scholars from North Africa and the Middle East such as al- Khwarizmi whose name was given to the term algorithm (ca. 825 C.E.) influenced Fiboncci but the 13 th century mathematician from Pisa is the individual that is identified with this beautiful and revolutionary concept and its relationship to nature.

 

​Jamelie Hassan will be part of a Toronto Palestinian Film Festival (TPFF) discussion panel on Cultural Suppression and Revival on Saturday September 26, 2020. The panel will explore the silencing of Palestinians voices in the cultural sector, as well as showcasing artists reviving Palestinian culture in their work.

 “I am honoured to add my voice to such a distinguished panel and be together with those who stand in solidarity with Palestine and culture here in Canada and across communities internationally. TPFF is inspiring and full of surprises... it's introduction of kid-friendly programs -  its intergenerational dynamic that appeals to all audiences  - grandparents, moms and dads and everyone else, drawn together from Toronto's BIPOC, cultural workers, activists, secular and civil society communities, keen to discover what's new and urgent in Palestinian culture."

-- Jamelie Hassan, London, Ontario

Please visit the TPFF online program for a full listing of films and events. ​