We invite you to the first exhibition of the Liu Lobby Gallery’s new series Roots and Reflections: On Personal and Collective Identity. Bringing together over 200 textiles from 17 countries, Patterns as Poetic Practice: Mapping Stories Through Textile Cartographies explores artistic expression, identity, and material engagement.
Open March 25 – April 28
About the Exhibition:
Patterns as Poetic Practice is coordinated by Elly Yazdanpanah, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, and contributes to Textile Cartographies, a global project that aims to amplify the voices of minority and peripheral communities through the visual language of textile arts. The exhibition emerges from her ongoing exploration of textile art as a medium for storytelling, cultural exchange, and participatory action. Over the past two years Yazdanpanah and her colleagues hosted a series of workshops during which participants made textile squares infused with their own lived experiences and creative contexts.
Patterns as Poetic Practice brings these locally-crafted works together with others made around the world, creating a collective tapestry. Across the gallery hang fabric banners, all featuring a collection that represents diverse perspectives and shared narratives. Each square embodies the roots of its maker’s ancestral heritage while reflecting the fluidity of identity in a globalized world. Together, they become maps of meaning, relationships, dreams, and desires, that foster dialogue and connection across borders. The exhibition highlights the enduring relevance of craft traditions in shaping collective memory and identity and celebrates the creative resilience of communities worldwide.
Viewers are invited to engage with the banners and make their own discoveries. The exhibition is an evolving process. Following the opening reception on Tuesday, April 1, viewers can contribute to the exhibition on an ongoing basis.
Artist Bio:
Elly Yazdanpanah is a postdoctoral fellow (NFRF) at The University of British Columbia, a highly skilled and dedicated scholar seamlessly combining the domains of artistic expression and education, driven by a deep enthusiasm for cultural exploration. Originally from Iran, she holds a Ph.D. in art education from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Design, followed by a Master of Arts in Fine Art Painting, demonstrating her commitment to experimentation and gaining knowledge beyond disciplines and nationalities. Elly has made significant contributions to well-known art galleries in both Iran and Canada, venturing into the vibrant world of art galleries and curating and managing exhibitions. Her pioneering research focuses on walking practices in art museums and galleries, exploring the immersive nature of embodied experiences.
Acknowledgements:
This exhibition is part of the larger international initiative, Textile Cartographies, a participatory action research project coordinated by the APECV Research Group on Arts, Community, and Education (GriArCE) in collaboration with 29 groups from universities, schools, collectives, and NGOs across the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
The textile workshops that contribute to this exhibition were held at UBC from 2023-2025 and were made possible through the generous support of the Government of Canada’s New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) [Anita Sinner, PI, NFRF-2022-00245, Worlding Higher Education Differently: Co-creating a Technology-Art-Science Commons].
Cette exposition a été rendue possible grâce au soutien généreux du fonds Nouvelles frontières en recherche du gouvernement du Canada [Anita Sinner, chercheuse principale, NFRF-2022-00245, Worlding Higher Education Differently: Co-creating a Technology-Art-Science Commons].
