Yours to Discover (2019 - 2022) looks at found photographs of Naqvi’s family visiting popular tourist destinations in Ontario as a means of understanding and re-examining commonly accepted ideals of Canadian culture. The images in the forefront are of the artist’s family, taken in the late 1980s when they were considering the prospect of immigrating to Canada.
Naqvi examines three specific sites and the way they have been staged to educate the public on Canadian ideals and values. At Niagara Falls, we witness the greatness and superior force of Canadian natural phenomena; at the CN Tower we understand new technological and architectural advancement, and at Cullen Gardens and Miniature Village, we observe miniature examples of what is deemed to be ideal models of Canadian living and communities.
Within the larger photo frame, Naqvi creates her own stage and pairs different symbols which point to her findings and interpretations. She pairs artifacts from her childhood, research materials, excerpts from the family album, and board games which have similar educational values to the ones we are meant to gain from visiting these tourist destinations. These images are created within the home-studio, a site in which Naqvi studies these photos from her family album and interprets what it means to be an acceptable Canadian citizen.
