Khadija Baker

Khadija Baker is a Montreal-based, multidisciplinary artist of Kurdish-Syrian descent (born 1973 in Amuda, Syria). Baker immigrated to Canada from Syria in 2001; she completed her MFA studies at Concordia University 2012. She is a core member of the Centre for Oral History & Digital Storytelling (COHDS) at Concordia University. Her installations investigate social and political themes centered on the uncertainty of home as it relates to persecution, identity, displacement, and memory. As a witness to traumatic events, unsettled feelings of home are a part of her experience. Her multidisciplinary installations often combine textiles, sculpture, performance, sound and video, and involve participative storytelling and performance to create active spaces for greater understanding. Baker continues her research creation at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture (CISSC) at Concordia University.

Baker exhibited at galleries across Canada and internationally, including, live performance with Atassi Foundation at Alserkal, Dubai, the 3rd Istanbul International Triennial, Istanbul, Turkey; the 6th DocuAsia Forum, Vancouver, Canada; the 12th International Exile Film Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden; the 27th Instant Video festival, Marseille, France; Syria Contemporary Art Fair, Beirut, Lebanon; the 17th CONTACT Photo Festival, Toronto, Canada; the 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia; the 10th International Diaspora Film Festival, Toronto, Canada; New York, USA; Damascus UNESCO Arab Capital of Culture, Damascus, Syria –as well as at cultural capitals around the globe: Vienna, Austria; Paris, France; Berlin, Germany; Beirut, London, UK; New York and San Francisco, USA; and across Canada. She had several research, creation and travel grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des letters du Québec. She won the 2020 Cultural Diversity in Visual Arts Award, 2023 David Suzuki Foundation Rewilding Arts Prize winner and Miriam Aaron Roland Family award