Nazar Research Cluster
In Winter 2025, Dark Opacities Lab launched its first research cluster based on its first thematic project, “Nazar: A Theory of the Evil Eye.” We welcomed a small group of participants primarily based at Concordia and in Montreal, including students, artists, organizers, writers, and community members.
This Nazar Research Cluster is a small cohort to study, think, and work on Dark Opacities Lab’s annual zines. The cluster works on the theme of “Nazar: A Theory of the Evil Eye,” to read, converse, write and create in relation to the theme. In addition, cohort members who are particularly interested in helping produce a small-scale exhibition on this theme may choose to work with the research cluster for two or more semesters. The time commitment requires participants to meet in the lab every month, and there are short readings to complete in preparation for meetings, requiring a 2-3 hour commitment per week.
Our current research cluster members include:
Amanda Ghazale Aziz is a writer, researcher, and arts programmer. Her work has appeared in PRISM, Hazlitt, and most recently, We Call to the Eye & the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Heritage (Persea Books). She is a member of Regards Palestiniens, a film collective devoted to the political potential of aesthetics in Palestinian cinema.
As an artist and writer, I am interested in how resistance against structures of incarceration and containment change the way that we see the world. In my research, I explore the politics of sight as they intersect with carceral geographies in order to analyze how the ways that images of land and space are viewed, archived, and shared can shape concepts of freedom, sovereignty, and subjecthood. From the camera to the gallery, imperialism, colonialism, and capitalism inform how art is made, distributed, and historicized. Drawing on action and writing from political movements, including prison abolitionist organizing, migrant justice, queer and trans liberation, and anti-colonial, land-based resistance, I focus on how we might see the world differently, beyond and against a dominant gaze. I use sculpture, printed matter, painting, video, and poetry to explore sites and strategies of resistance to carceral infrastructure including sabotage, blockades, camouflage, reclamation, and looking back.
Emma Haraké’s teaching, research, and creative practice move within a framework of public and critical pedagogy. Born and raised in Beirut and living in Tio’tia:ke/Montreal, Emma holds a master’s in art education from Concordia University and a BFA from the Lebanese University. Her work spans across different mediums and focuses on oral history, memory work, and the complexities of collaborative processes. She is currently working on her first graphic novel.
Dr. Prathna Lor is a poet, critic, and educator. Most recently, they were assistant professor of Global Anglophone and Postcolonial Literature (LTA) in the Department of English at Concordia University. Their debut poetry collection, Emanations (Wolsak & Wynn, 2022) was a finalist for the 2022 A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry and a 2023 Lambda Literary Award. Their critical and creative writing have appeared in Canadian Literature, Psychoanalysis & History, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Jacket2, DIAGRAM, and C Magazine, among other places.
Previous research cluster members included:
Fitsum Areguy is a writer, scholar-activist, and cultural worker based in Kitchener, Ontario. His essays, investigations, and experimental writing can be found in Briarpatch Magazine, ByBlacks, Canadian Dimension, Guernica Editions, Breach Media, New Sociology, Toronto Star, and elsewhere. He is the co-founder and co-director of Textile, a hyper-local arts collective in Waterloo Region that supports writers and artists through mentorship, publishing, and curation. As a 2025 Musagetes Fellow, Fitsum’s artistic and curatorial practice engages place-based projects and critical publications to interrogate public memory, preserve community narratives, and foster creative solidarities.
Emitees (Emi) Tajdari (she/her) is an undergraduate student in Art History at Concordia University, specializing in SWANA visual culture, historiography, and the politics of representation. She explores how art intersects with identity, power, and colonial legacies, drawing on Queer, Feminist, and Marxist methodologies. Her research focuses on the impact of Orientalism on Muslim representation and the role of art in reclaiming marginalized narratives. Beyond academia, she is drawn to curatorial work and collaborative projects that bridge theory and practice, positioning art as a tool for resistance, cultural preservation, and collective memory.
