Meet Masoud, an artist with over a decade of experience in documentary work and portrait photography. He is also an award-winning film maker and an experienced film editor. As part of his photography-based residency, he will conduct workshops on advances in the development of photographic practices. Additionally, his images, which offer fresh and distinctive insights on having recently navigated a new culture, will be showcased in April. Through an innovative darkroom printing technique called “uneven development,” Masoud will create an unforgettable series of black-and-white photographs that depict the feelings of migrants while adjusting to their new lives ‒ their journey, their losses and successes, their grief and happiness. Notably, his photograph, “Terror,” won the K.B. Jackson Award in Portraiture in the Hart House Camera Club’s 97th Exhibition in 2019.
Masoud Riyazati is a multidisciplinary artist who draws inspiration from his life journey and brings lived experiences into his photography, films, and music. He was born in Iran and moved to Canada in his late twenties. Later, he applied to the University of Toronto, where he is finishing his Anthropology and Visual Arts degrees. Throughout his studies, he has been active in the art community, producing award-winning photography and experimental film.
In 2019, Masoud travelled to Turkey to interview refugee families struggling to care for their ill children as part of a campaign to amplify their voices. He is currently a Hart House Artist in Residency, working on a photo essay exploring the emotional effects of migration and finding one's place in the world.
Photo by Sunny Kooner.
