Reyhaneh Yazdani

A Poem In Distance sends out poems as a gesture of "care" and "support" to friends and neighbors living in social isolation. Since April 2020, Reyhaneh Yazdani (MFA 2019) has been re-writing and sharing poems on topics of care, resilience, community, and poetic expressions of hope through the mail.

Similar to other practitioners, my art practice also shifted and changed after the pandemic and became more limited to space and materials available at home. I asked myself how this pandemic and the current situation could be utilized as a tactic for social change and what is my role as an artist/ designer in it?

I grew up in a household where poems and poets were very important and respected. We would open Hafez or Rumi's books when we have gathered around in family time to read poems and get inspirations for our everyday dilemma, or struggles. This is for me a way of showing up for one another, feeling nourished, and connecting to the community through these difficult times. the physicality of the handwritten letter creates an intimate bond between the writer, the words written, and the reader.

Reyhaneh Yazdani is an interdisciplinary artist/ designer currently living and working in Vancouver. She received a Master of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University in 2019, a Master of Architecture from the University of Tehran in 2017, and BArch from the University of Sistan & Baluchestan in 2012. She has been the recipient of two Tehran Municipality Art Work Awards, for her creative practice and exceptional urban installations in 2015 and 2016. Her interdisciplinary practice investigates the themes of nomadic identities, bi-lingual explorations, and the implications of colonialism and monoculture in today’s world.