Quick Pick — Abbas Akhavan and Rochelle Goldberg at Catriona Jeffries Gallery

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Abbas Akhavan, “Pandemic, Thuyen Ton Temple,” detail, 2024, 10 inkjet prints, each 30" x 20" (courtesy of Catriona Jeffries Gallery)

Abbas Akhavan has been named the artist who will represent Canada at the 2026 Venice Biennale. But you can see his work this month at Catriona Jeffries in Vancouver. 

Abbas Akhavan and Rochelle Goldberg, Disembody, opens Nov. 30 and continues through Jan. 25.

Stone lions. A dog’s stick. A bandage wrapped around a rhinoceros snout. There’s much to see and consider in this show. 

“Throughout Disembody, the human recedes, leaving bestial traces behind. This is not to say that humanness is an elaboration, much less a transcendence, of the reductive animal. In fact, it is the opposite,” reads the gallery statement. 

“In these works we perceive the human body, made all the more visible through disembodiment: our use of tools and metaphors, the discipline of domestic rituals, and our dependence on creatures that are simultaneously subordinate and sacred.”

Born in Tehran, Iran, Akhavan splits his time between Montreal and Berlin, Germany. His practice includes site-specific installations, drawing, video, sculpture and performance. The 2015 Sobey Art Award winner, he holds a master of fine arts from the University of British Columbia and a bachelor of fine arts from Concordia University.

Goldberg was born in Vancouver and now lives in Berlin. She holds a master of fine arts from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, USA and a bachelor of arts from McGill University. ■

Abbas Akhavan and Rochelle Goldberg, Disembody, takes place Nov. 30 to Jan. 25 at Catriona Jeffries Gallery in Vancouver

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