Yalda Bozorg
Becoming - 2024
"I have always been intrigued by how emotional violence operates—how it does not leave visible wounds but instead gradually erodes someone's sense of self. It is a type of harm that can go unnoticed, even by the victim, until they no longer recognize themselves. It is subtle, insidious, and extremely damaging. My work revolves around this gradual change process.
Photocredits: Chris F Giles
Each of my pieces begins with a digital design that is 3D printed into physical form. But that is just the beginning. The sculptures go through several stages, each transforming them in some way. The final piece, made of copper, contains traces of every stage, serving as a memory of where it has been. This layering feels like a metaphor for the experience of emotional violence, in which every interaction and every word has an impact, often without our knowledge.
I invite viewers to touch and hold my work because that interaction is important. When someone holds a piece, they leave their own subtle imprint—an oil from their skin, a warmth, a pressure. At the same time, they take something intangible away with them: a connection to the piece and its story. It becomes an exchange, a quiet dialogue. To me, this mirrors the way emotional harm works and how it leaves its traces on everyone involved. But it also represents something hopeful: the possibility of connection and understanding. When we touch and engage with something, we see it differently and feel it more deeply.
Through my work, I want to shape what often feels invisible. These pieces are not just about the harm done but also about resilience and recognition. They are about how we carry the traces of our experiences and how those traces can shape us, sometimes in ways we are only beginning to understand."
Yalda Bozorg received her MA in ceramics in the Cardiff School of Art and Design in 2016. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Art from the University of New Brunswick and a diploma in fine craft from the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She admires technology as much as she loves art. Social and cultural issues are concepts that inspire her, so she is trying to find a way to merge technology with art, and create a new language for delicate subjects like violence and war, religion and women, fear and pain, in the most tender way.
“As a child, I have experienced one of the greatest horrors that humans have created for each other: War. I never noticed how much it is still living inside me, until the day I decided to pick violence, fear and pain as my subject for the MA program. I started researching these phenomena as an observer and the more I studied them the more I realized that I relate to them, more than I expected. Making ceramic pieces based on my research and soul searching has helped me understand and connect deeper with myself.” - Yalda Bozorg
Hope
50 Cups for 50 Refugees
Morph
"As a visual artist and practice-led researcher, the most important concepts to me are lived experiences that have social impacts. I believe I have a personal responsibility to grow artistically and technically and a social duty to use my abilities as a voice for those who need it.
Developing this three-part body of work since 2016 provides the personal growth and social impact I seek. I explore the relationship between fear and solitude on societal, personal and familial levels. This work helps me overcome the pain caused by the abusive and misogynistic regime of my country of origin (Iran), while giving a voice to those who have been victims of systemic abuse.
I am interested in the gradual change that happens during the making process. The unnoticeable transformation that turns a “thing/person” into “another” without making any noise. This transition is what I want to highlight: making a silent process loud so that people notice it.
I am a storyteller. War, immigration, depression and emotional/physical abuse are the fundamental concepts of my work. As an Iranian/Canadian woman who has first-hand experience of war and destruction, depression and systemic abuse of an oppressive regime, I am uniquely qualified to tell the story of anxiety and depression that are the result of a lifelong struggle to find freedom. I am telling a story without words, echoing the screams of victims of war and violence with silence." - Yalda Bozorg