It’s Familiar

It’s Familiar

September 5th – October 25th, 2025

Exhibition Opening: September 5th | 6 – 9pm

The MCC is excited to present It’s Familiar, a group exhibition and programming featuring five artists who are first generation Canadians, curated by Alireza Bayat. Participating artists include Maryam

Bagherti, Desa Kalem, Nasanet Shawl, Lourdes Still, and Giancarlo Vitor.

The title “It’s Familiar” was chosen for the exhibition, a reflection of the group’s desire to focus on the common ground and shared experience, even as they grapple with what it means to make a life in a place where so much is unfamiliar. Over the course of six weeks, Ali gathered the artists together weekly to share stories, discuss art and craft, and make plans for their group show. Large rolls of brown paper filled with colourful drawings and text, circles and arrows, began to accumulate in our office, evidence of the ideas, emotions, and creative connections that were developing.

All participating artists will also receive funding to undertake a community project. The project will be designed and delivered by participating artists to meet the needs of their community.

This project was made possible through the generosity and vision of the Winnipeg Foundation, in honour of Winnipeg’s 150th anniversary in 2024. On-going support for the MCC is from the Manitoba Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Winnipeg Arts Council.

About our Curator Alireza Bayat:

Alireza Bayat is a freelance curator, writer, and cultural worker based in Winnipeg, Canada. He holds an M.A. in Curatorial Practices from the University of Winnipeg where he currently teaches courses on global and non-Western art histories. He also holds a Master’s degree in Art Studies from Azad University, Tehran, where he explored notions of gender and sexuality in 19th-century Iranian written and visual texts.

Bayat has curated solo and group exhibitions in Iran, Norway, the U.S., and Canada. His research and curatorial practice engage with participatory and intersectional curating, conjunctural analysis, socio-political activism, and the study of power dynamics in visual culture.