About
BIO
Dalia El Toark is a Palestinian artist, born in United Arab Emirates in 1996, and immigrated to Canada in 2007. Growing up surrounded by family has become an iconic aspect in Dalia’s life, but the sudden migration to the west caused a drastic change in her life both culturally, and socially. Creating art was a way to express her emotions, and address the issues on her mind. Dalia has completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), undergraduate studies from Ontario College of Art University (OCAD U), majoring in Drawing and Painting (DRPT) and minoring in Material Arts and Design (MAAD). Dalia's work depicts a celebration of her Palestinian culture and the loss of it. Through abstract animated embroideries and paintings, she expresses her diasporic belonging using personal images to digitally collage Palestinian motifs (tatreez), holding onto her roots. While addressing the diminishing heritage and language, Dalia disseminates these criticalities through embroidered Arabic text and the hijab that acts as the surface for these embroidered narratives.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work depicts a series of abstracted animated embroideries that reflects my sense of diasporic belonging, through digitally combining Palestinian tatreez, and personal images which occupy the fabrics stretched in embroidery hoops. Transnational experiences that depict the loss and celebration of my Palestinian heritage are addressed, while the colonial practice of embroidery also questions woman's prescribed roles. I disseminated these criticalities through embroidered Arabic text and the hijab that acts as the surface for these embroidered narratives.