Moeen Didehban on "Rare" Experience (Co-)Curating Art Exhibit
Thu. Jun. 5, 2025
Rooted in Relations is an exhibit of works from UWinnipeg’s art collection created by eight Inuit and First Nations artists.
University of Winnipeg undergraduate and graduate students within the GENG-7820/HIST-4833: Indigenous Theory and Curatorial Practices course, taught by Dr. Cathy Mattes during the Spring 2025 term.
Moeen Didehban (Amirabbas),an MA in Cultural Studies candidate, is one of the co-curators. Moeen kindly took the time to answer some of our questions about his experience.
What’s your academic/professional background, and what made you interested in the MA in Cultural Studies program?
I have B.A in Cinema from Iran and another master’s degree in Art History from Italy, and it was a practical chance and step for me before trying for a Ph.D. to enrich my knowledge in curatorial practices.
What was your role in curating Rooted in Relations? What was the process like?
Working alongside Mahlet, another student in the course, my role was to design the layout of the exhibit.
Everyone took part in group discussions and collaborated to prepare the exhibit.
We started with the idea of showing the relationship between humans, the land, and society. The process was collaborative, involving ongoing discussions among members, researching conceptual contexts, and adapting the form of the exhibition to the content of the works.
Of course, I also go to select one of the works presented.
What piece did you ultimately select, and why?
I chose “Untitled (Figure in Kayak)”, Elizabeth Aulatjut Nutaraluk, soapstone sculpture, c. 1988.
My main reason for this choice was that I was looking for a work that I could see myself in. I felt that if I was to find common ground with a culture that I had just recently become acquainted with, as a student who had only been in this country for eight months, I would have to draw on my own feelings as well as curatorial ideas. The fluidity and movement that are so well represented in this work are not separate from the spirit of human life and my own personal experience.
A sculpture like this also evokes for me the process of extracting life from a hard stone that has been carved. A process that perhaps all of us humans experience throughout our lives, and it was the other reason that caught my attention.
What did you learn that surprised you while you worked on this project?
The truth is that our professor managed the project so well that there were no particular surprises for me, but if I had to say what was most interesting to me, I would have to say that coordinating the entire project between ten people and bringing together their tastes was a very difficult task, which is done!
What was the most memorable part of this experience?
It is not possible for students to have such a chance everywhere. The opportunity that was given to me will remain in my memory forever. Practical training and then the opportunity to perform it for an audience with the planning and help of the University and professors is something I have rarely seen or heard of anywhere else.
I cannot claim to have seen everywhere in the world, but I can say that I had never been given such a chance at university before.
Thanks for taking the time to check in with us, Moeen!
The only graduate program in Cultural Studies in Western Canada, the University of Winnipeg's multidisciplinary Master of Arts in Cultural Studies is an innovative, 12-month, course-based program that offers specializations in Texts and Cultures or Curatorial Practices.
Rooted in Relations, hosted by Gallery 1C03, is open to the public Monday through Friday, 1:00-4:00 pm from June 2 to August 1, 2025.