Farihah Aliyah Shah

From her own family lineage to histories of advertising, Shah’s work confronts the colonial gaze of white supremacy. She engages archives, documentary, self-portraiture, and constructed imagery as acts of reclamation. In Without a Leg to Stand On, the artist reclaims Black skin as subject in the photographic image, exploring the history of the medium’s privileging of white skin and later dark coloured commodity objects.

White peonies with green leaves on black background.
Inside page of a Guyana passport with stamp, holder's name, and floral illustration.
Two black and white passport photos with stamps, labeled 'Bearer' and 'Wife' from a Guyanese document.
Close-up of a person wearing glasses and earrings on the left, and hands styling hair on the right.
Empty brown chair in a photography studio with black backdrop and studio lights.

  • Portrait 01 from Looking for Lucille 2017

    Portrait 02 from Looking for Lucille 2017

    Young Coconut from Along the Demerara 2017

    View from St. Hubert from Looking for Lucille 2017

    Untitled 03 from Without a Leg to Stand On, 2021

    Untitled 04 from Without a Leg to Stand On, 2021

    Untitled 10 from Without a Leg to Stand On, 2021

    Untitled 09 from Without a Leg to Stand On, 2021

    Untitled 06 from Without a Leg to Stand On, 2021

    Still 01 and 02 from And With These Hands, 2020

    Also A Chair (Clip) from Without a Leg to Stand On 2021. Watch full video.

Farihah Aliyah Shah is a lens-based artist based in Bradford, Ontario. She holds a BFA in Photography with a minor in Integrated Media from OCAD University. Using photography, video and sound installation, her practice engages photographic history and explores identity formation through the colonial gaze, race, connectivity to land, and collective memory.

Shah was the 2019 recipient of the John Hartman Award. She currently is a member at Gallery 44 - Centre for Contemporary Photography and Women Photograph an organization that advocates for Female Identified and Non-Binary photojournalists. Shah has exhibited internationally in Asia, Europe, and North America.

PLACE