From May 15 to 31, two outstanding young artists showcased their Master of Fine Arts thesis artworks at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery. It was a huge success, as the audience was captivated by the bold, emotional art that was also deeply rooted in personal and political histories.
Paige Smith – I Saw You in the Archive
Smith discovered the little-known history of a member of the UW’s first Board of Governors, who actively practiced eugenics. Drawing from the archives of the Kaufman Rubber Company and its owner, A. R. Kaufman, Smith examines how institutional systems sought to contain and define people, particularly those labeled as “feeble-minded.” As a queer and neurodiverse female artist, she brings a personal lens into a disturbing and complex legacy, resisting narratives of erasure and inviting reflection on how identity is framed and preserved.
This centrepiece of her work is a projection on rubber latex that shows the silhouette of Smith screaming and struggling to break through the latex wall. Nearby, a CRT television plays behind-the-scenes footage of the work’s creation.
Ivan Jurakic, director/curator of the UW art gallery commented: “These artefacts are the kind that maybe you don’t find in a regular paper archive, but it’s very visual, very tactile, very visceral, and you are meant to have a very physical relationship to this and really get the ideas of the ideological practices of the company, which conflict with some of our more contemporary beliefs.”
The gallery space is filled with artifacts such as file boxes, bricks, rubber boots, and historical pamphlets with titles such as “Better Babies” and “Sterilization Notes.” Particularly striking is a shredded map of the Waterloo region, signifying the eugenicist’s strong ties not only to the city but also to the university. Another powerful piece features a photograph of Kaufman at his office desk placed atop a pile of rubber condoms once produced by his company, expressing the artist’s frustration and anger toward a man who openly discriminated against women.
Azadeh Pirazimian – The Story of Tiles and Ropes In-Between
Azadeh Pirazimian’s exhibition is a creative meditation on migration, memory, and cultural displacement. Using terracotta clay and braided jute, her work speaks to the fragility of shelter and memory, held together by materials that carry the textures of land, labor, and time. The installation moves through suspended emotional spaces, exploring the in-between states of identity and belonging.
“Azadeh is Iranian Canadian, and her work is a poetic enactment of the memory of her childhood and family,” commented Ivan Jurakic. “It is about embodying those memories. I think there’s a kind of longing for the past, but also understanding that these are memories that are affecting the present. So there’s that notion in the title of being in between.”
Videos in the gallery show the artist braiding her hair with jute, walking with clay pieces strapped to her ankles, and creating sounds as she moves. These simple yet powerful gestures evoke the rhythms of adaptation and survival.
“These are unresolved issues,” Jurakic added. “It is meant to put you in a state of mind that is maybe meditative. The fact that you enter the gallery and you literally have to walk between these two pieces to then engage with the video. She is physicalizing this idea of being in neither one place nor another.”
During the opening reception, Azadeh also presented a live performance, walking across campus in one of her sculptural pieces. Her work creates a powerful, embodied experience. Each step, knot, and stitch became part of an ongoing story about displacement, repair, and becoming.
