Winning at TOAF 2024: What the Honourable Mention Meant to Me

Last July, I stood in Nathan Phillips Square under one of those iconic white tents at the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair — and something unexpected happened.

After three days of conversations with collectors, curators, and art lovers who stopped to look at my Locations Isolationseries, I received the Honourable Mention in Photography & Digital Media, supported by Toronto Image Works.

I still remember how I felt when I heard. Not just pride — something quieter. A feeling that this work, this particular body of work, had been seen.

What is the Locations Isolation series?

It started the way most of my projects start: with a building that wouldn't leave my mind.

I became fascinated by old, historical places — the kind that carry stories in their walls. I began visiting these sites across Toronto and photographing them obsessively. Then I started researching their histories. What happened here? Who lived here? What was preserved, and what was erased?

Each piece in the series is built from those photographs — digitally transferred onto canvas, then layered with acrylic paint. The result is something between a document and a dream. A photograph that has been re-imagined, re-touched, brought back to life.

Curator and artist Michèle Pearson Clarke described the series beautifully at TOAF:

"In Raissi's photos, institutional narratives and domestic intimacies sit side by side, enhanced by her use of colour and texture. In this way her work invites us to consider what is worthy of preservation and display."

That quote stopped me. Because that's exactly what I was trying to ask.

Why I keep making this work

I'm an immigrant. I moved to Toronto from Tehran, and I carry with me a deep awareness of what gets preserved in a society — and what gets forgotten.

Every historical building holds that tension. And as I photograph them, layer paint over them, and hold them up for people to look at, I'm asking: Do you see what I see? Do you feel what these walls feel?

900+ people have collected my artwork over the years. But this award felt different. Not because of the recognition itself — but because it came from a community I deeply respect, for work that matters deeply to me.

What's next

I'm now working on a new collection called Uncertain Positions — focused on women in society. I can't wait to share more soon.

If you'd like to see the full Locations Isolation collection, [visit my portfolio here →]

And if you have any questions about the series, or about commissioning a piece, feel free to [reach out →].

Thank you, Toronto. Thank you, TOAF.

— Mona