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the Translation is Approximate From November 11, 2021 to January 15, 2022

© Zinnia Naqvi, A Border Passage (2019) from the series Yours to Discover (2019). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate , Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate , Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, I’m getting a bit dizzy from the sun and the heat (Another desi with a camera) (2019) from the series Yours to Discover (2019). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate, Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, Farzana (2021). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate , Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, Seaview (2014). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate , Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, I Don't Know How to Not Exploit My Experience ( 2018) de la série I Just Have a Lot of Feelings (2018— ). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate, Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, the Translation is Approximate (2021). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate , Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

© Zinnia Naqvi, Having My Face On Your Wall Is Not Proof of Inclusivity (2019) de la série I Just Have a Lot of Feelings (2018— ). Installation view of the exhibition the Translation is Approximate, Dazibao, 2021. Photo: Marilou Crispin.

Zinnia Naqvi

In addition to being written by Zinnia’s uncle, the reputable art historian Akbar Naqvi, *Image and Identity* responds to the artist’s curiosity surrounding Pakistani art history, a subject with which she has little familiarity.

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© Production images, Farzana (2021). Photo: Lucy Lu and Zehra Abrar.

Meet the artist: Zinnia Naqvi in conversation with Althea Thauberger.

Past work : Zinnia Naqvi, Nani in Safari Hat (1948) (reproduction 2017) et Self-portrait as Nani (2017). from the series Dear Nani (2017—).

Past work: Zinnia Naqvi, Self-portrait with Nani in the Garden (2017) from the series Dear Nani (2017—).

Past work: Zinnia Naqvi, from the series Dear Nani (2017—).

Past work: Zinnia Naqvi, Dear Nani (2017—). Installation view, Ryerson Artspace, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, 2017.

Past work: Zinnia Naqvi, Dear Nani (2017—). Installation view of the exhibition New Generation Photography Award, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2019. © National Gallery of Canada.

**Mirror, Mirror…**
In *I Don't Know How to Not Exploit My Experience* (2018), the viewer sees their reflection in the mirror on the gallery wall, and onto which is engraved the sentence that constitutes the work’s title. Challenged by the text and their own reflection, the viewer is invited to situate themselves in relation to the dilemma described by Naqvi.
In *the Translation is Approximate* (2021) Naqvi inserts herself into the image by playing with her and her camera’s reflection in a mirror. Like any image, revealing only fragments of that which it depicts, the mirror becomes a symbol for the reflection of oneself and on oneself.

© Zinnia Naqvi, Farzana (2021). Video still.

Past work: Heart-Shaped Box (2016).

Past work: Veena (2016).

**Why writing in a spiral?**
In *I Can Tell That Centering Myself Is Making You Uncomfortable* (2019) Naqvi plays with the figurative and literal meaning of the sentence, asking the viewer to spin on themselves in order to read the spiralic sentence and instigating the embodied disorientation one might experience when confronted with complex and difficult questions.

What about Kurt and Zinnia ?

Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box”is an example of American pop culture that influenced a public for whom the music was not necessarily intended, but for whom the resonance was meaningful. Naqvi’s early work Heart-Shaped Box uses home videos of her and her sisters identifying with this song that is part of a society which, as children of a newly immigrated family, they are in the midst of integrating.

What about Kurt and Zinnia ?