Hoda Zarbaf

Hoda Zarbaf is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist, who has ventured through a variety of materials, techniques and literature to make narrations of intimacy and the complex boon of being a woman. Hoda was born in Tehran and received a BFA in Painting from the University of Tehran. In 2008 she relocated to Canada and completed an MFA at the University of Windsor. These days, Hoda is using recycled textiles, pre-owned clothing, old toys and found objects to make figurative sculptures.

The use of various old crochets, used socks or pre-owned T-shirts in her work – along with traditional folk practice of felting and patching – brings a palpable level of intimacy to these sculptures. This correspondingly extols the conceptions of memory and past, which have been constant infatuations of the artist. The displayed notion of “the past” is further strengthened by engaging the absence of the pre-owner/wearer of these garments.

Hoda seeks to achieve a layering of opposites alongside each other, much like how she persistently relates to these self-contradictions. Chaotic stitches that create unity while negating perfection; old furniture that create the impression of stability and permanence, despite the fragility of the adjoining ...

2008-2010 MFA, University of Windsor | Windsor, Canada
2005-2008 MA in Animation, University of Art | Tehran Iran
2001-2005 BFA in Painting, University of Tehran | Tehran, Iran 2000-2001 Diploma in Graphic Design, Azadegan College | Tehran, Iran