Fitrah: A Spiritual Journey
SARA ASIM GAZZAZ
Project Description
Sara’s project addresses the notion of preserving self-identity using personal experience as a Muslim immigrant with cultural concerns of maintaining the practice of Islamic prayer rituals in a secular environment. It explores how the use of art practices in conjunction with digital technology can create a work that presents a deeper understanding of a Muslim immigrant’s need for a space to practice their prayer rituals. It discusses works by Edward Said, Stuart Hall and Frantz Fanon that are tied to acts of resistance and inequalities in various global settings. Sara’s project uses autoethnography and practice-led research that led to the creation of an installation that conceptualizes the experience of an Islamic prayer. Fitrah is a digital interactive installation, which uses Islamic artifacts, light and audio to express Sara’s spiritual journey to preserve her Islamic prayer rituals in shared spaces.
BIO
Sara Gazzaz is a Master’s of Fine Arts candidate in the Digital Futures program at OCAD University. She is an artist and a designer who holds an honours BA in Graphic Design. Gazzaz has exhibited her mixed media work both locally and abroad, in Toronto, Jeddah and London. She co-created an immersive installation called ‘The Living Room’ for The Royal Ontario Museum. Her practice interests are in developing digital installations and interactive projects.