Khadija Baker

As a witness to traumatic events in her childhood, Kurdish-Syrian artist Khadija Baker reflects on their influence in her work. “I always saw the border in the Kurdish region of Northern Syria where I was born as a tool to divide and stop the fluency of daily activities,” she says. “I have always had uncomfortable feelings about home; these feelings were related to the borders that surrounded our ‘home’ in Syria.”

Born in Amuda, Khadija Baker (1973) completed her MFA at Concordia University. Her multidisciplinary and performative works investigate sociopolitical themes that centre on the uncertainty of home as it relates to persecution, identity, displacement and memory. Using participative storytelling, she aims to create active spaces for greater understanding.

Baker has held solo exhibitions at galleries and institutions across Canada and internationally including: Istanbul International Triennial; DocuAsia Forum, Vancouver; International Exile Film Festival, Gothenburg; Instant Video festival, Marseille; CONTACT Photo Festival, Toronto; Biennale of Sydney; OFTTA festival, Montr.al; International Diaspora Film Festival, Toronto; Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille; Festival Accès Asie, Montreal, Canada and the London Kurdish Film Festival.