Oct. 2, 2019
For Immediate Release

Waterloo – On Saturday, Oct. 5, Wilfrid Laurier University’s Toronto office will participate in the city’s Nuit Blanche festival by hosting an interactive art installation by Iranian-Canadian artist Zahra Saleki. The exhibit, Call My Name, invites viewers to consider the devastating impacts of war.

Call My Name is dedicated to the thousands of children who have died in wars in the Middle East. Saleki will display photographs of 100 faceless youths running through beautiful locales, while hundreds of small lanterns hang on a dead tree in the centre of the room. Written on each lantern will be the words, “He could have…” or “She could have…” Visitors will be invited to finish the sentences by writing on the lanterns and completing the children’s stories.

“We are excited to once again open our doors to members of the Toronto community,” said Carolyn Hawthorn, manager of advancement and external relations at Laurier’s Toronto office. “Zahra’s piece is powerful and thought-provoking, and we are proud to be her host venue this year.”

Saleki, a Toronto-based artist whose work focuses on subjects like feminism, immigration and war, will be participating in Nuit Blanche for the fourth time. With Call My Name, she wants the audience to ponder what the lives of the children in her photographs might have become had they not grown up in a war zone.

Nuit Blanche is an all-night art festival that takes place across Toronto from the evening of Oct. 5 to early morning on Oct. 6. This year’s theme is “Continuum.” The installation at Laurier’s Toronto office will be open from 7 p.m. Oct. 5 to 7 a.m. Oct. 6. For more information, visit toronto.ca/nuitblanche.