The Duct Tape Ribbon Project: Give Peace a Chance!

By: Sheekha Sanghvi

By: Nazanin Azari (Account Manager) and Gregory Bourne (System Support Associate)

The Duct Tape Ribbon Project is designed to portray the impact of language barriers on victim’s attempts to express themselves. Represented in a statement format, the project is a visual and text-based representation of the violence experienced by victims. The goal of each post is to exhibit the pain and confusion that stems from the inability to express one’s self due to language barriers or the feeling of being an outlander.

The victims represented in this project are the members of society that fall outside the caste of the “privileged”, according to common social laws practiced in various lands.  These people are furious and feel like outlanders, due to their race, sexual orientation, gender, social status, appearance, physical or mental health.

A common factor that contributes to their unhappiness is in their inability to speak Canada’s two official languages of English or French!

Because of that, social justice and benefits can rarely be fully reached. The victims are judged, treated and serviced-based on what is seen on the surface, even though they deserve to be heard and understood.

This project is part of the Duct Tape Ribbon campaign in collaboration with MCIS Language Solutions.  This body of work will be comprised of stories that provide a 360-degree view of a pivotal event in a person’s life. The statements will be presented in both English and another language. The audience that have the ability to understand both of the languages will get a perfect idea of the story told.

About the Artist and Writer

Nazanin Azari is a Toronto based, Iranian-Canadian artist. The Duct Tape Ribbon Project will be the latest of many digital projects that is told through storytelling that Nazanin has curated. Her body of work is theatrical in nature and uses a combination of sounds, visual elements, and installation that will all unify in exhibiting a story from a specific moment/s of a person’s life.

Nazanin has been working in the community as a Farsi-English language interpreter in the social, legal and medical fields. Her experience with language barriers experienced by victims of violence, inspired her to focus her fascination with storytelling to examine the frustration and limitations of her clients.

Gregory Bourne is a content writer born in Montreal, Quebec and now calls Toronto his home. He is a disability activist who has participated in some online awareness campaigns. Gregory has written blog articles on the mental and physical barriers faced by some in our communities.

Guest Artists, and team of translators

This project may have guest artists represent their visual works of art within the same concept. A team of different translators will be working with the artist to present the statements included in the story in the original language as the victims narrate their tale. Gregory Bourne will be activity consulting the project team with the English text components of the stories