AFK | Residencies

Parastoo Anoushahpour: Artist-in-Residence at Ace Hotel

Parastoo Anoushahpour
April 1, 2024–
April 30, 2024
Location
Ace Hotel Toronto

51 Camden St, Toronto, ON M5V 1V2

Street level entrance, elevator and ramp available. Accessible gender neutral and single occupancy washroom with automatic door.

For a map of Ace Hotel Toronto, click here

Images Festival joins Ace Hotel Toronto in a yearlong partnership to curate the Hotel’s inaugural annual Artist-in-Residence Program. Four artists have been invited to participate in quarterly, month-long residencies at the hotel followed by an exhibition of their work. 


Parastoo Anoushahpour is the current and final Artist in Residence. She is an Iranian artist based in Toronto whose moving image practice works predominantly with video and installation. Ace Hotel has long nurtured the work of emerging artists. During her stay, Parastoo will develop work that responds to the context of Ace Hotel Toronto and her experience there. At the conclusion of her residency, Parastoo’s work will be shared with the community in an on-site exhibition. Preceding Parastoo, Ace Hotel AiR hosted Alize Zorlutuna, Nour Bishouty, and Eve Tagny.

Parastoo Anoushahpour

Parastoo Anoushahpour is an artist originally from Tehran, now based in Toronto, who works predominantly with film, video, and installation. Her recent work has been shown at the Plugin ICA, Berlinale, MoMA, The Flaherty Film Seminar, Punto de Vista Film Festival, Sharjah Film Platform, Viennale, NYFF, TIFF, Images Festival, IFF Rotterdam, Oberhausen, Experimenta in Bangalore, and Media City. Since 2013, she has developed a shared practice with Ryan Ferko and Faraz Anoushahpour.

Images Festival operates on land stolen from the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Tkáron:to is currently home to diverse Indigenous and Métis peoples as well as people who settle on this land. As part of Treaty 13 and the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Covenant, we acknowledge that we all eat from the same bowl and spoon, and must take only what we need, ensuring resources are available for all. 


As art workers, artists, and curators, we see the process of untangling ourselves from settler complicity as internal, structural, and ongoing. It is not something to be taken lightly. The inclusion of Indigenous artists and curators into our program is just the first step of necessary and deeper change. Extending from our organizational accountability work, we strive to not only undo forms of complicity, but also actively create an environment and infrastructure that can support Indigenous peoples who work with us. 


Images expresses our solidarity with Indigenous people on Turtle Island and globally. We are committed to continuing to learn, critique, and challenge the settler colonial structures we are complicit in.