Riaz Mehmood
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Riaz Mehmood of Pakistani origin is a Montreal/Toronto based, experimental film and video artist. He graduated from the Integrated Media program at Ontario College of Art and Design in 2005. His multidisciplinary practice encompasses performance, video and photography. Riaz interests include exploring issues of representation and race, history and media. His work has been shown internationally, including USA, Canada and Indonesia.
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My artistic practice engages web based research along with film and video. As an artist, I am interested in how historical research can shape the ways in which knowledge is constructed and conveyed. In my work I use random images selected from the web to reconstruct and illustrate stories, myths and religious texts.
I am also drawn towards issues around the colonial project and identity politics as these issues have greatly impacted my own identity and practice. In my current work, I rely greatly on a collaborative process to filter and shift the narratives I find. This means that I work along with other artists to inform my research and aesthetic. I continue to use this method to strength the basis of my work and to shape the ways in which my archive of research grows.
I see this process of reconstructing stories as a means to make sense of knowledge production and to create a sense of placement in history. Through my work, I hope to show how knowledge can be reedited and made to fit my own understanding of the world around me.
