Impos(s)able Impositions
UBC Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory
Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition 2025
Solange Adum Abdala, Mahsa Farzi, Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa, Sarah Haider, Yuan Wen
May 2–June 1, 2025
Opening reception: Thursday, May 1, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
The Belkin is pleased to present an exhibition of work by the 2025 graduates of UBC’s two-year Master of Fine Arts program: Solange Adum Abdala, Mahsa Farzi, Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa, Sarah Haider and Yuan Wen. This program in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory is limited each year to a small group of four to six artists, who over the two years foster different sensibilities developed within an intimate and discursive working environment. Through interdisciplinary group critiques, weekly seminars, artist talks, open studios and advisor discussions, students develop advanced techniques and expand critical concepts to emerge with a particular direction for their studio practice.
Impos(s)able Impositions: UBC Master of Fine Arts Graduate Exhibition is curated by Melanie O’Brian and presented with support from the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory at the University of British Columbia.
Solange Adum Abdala
Solange Adum Abdala is a Peruvian-born photographer and visual artist (b.1980) currently based in Vancouver, where she is a candidate in the MFA program at the University of British Columbia. She holds a BA in visual project direction and photography from the Escuela Superior Tecnológica Centro de la Imagen. Influenced by her Lebanese-Palestinian heritage and experiences of migration, Adum Abdala’s practice engages with temporality, space, territory and landscape. Initially focused on lens-based views, Adum Abdala now repurposes previous works to comment on colonization, incorporating drawing, video, collage, AI and vision-extension devices to invite viewers to re/de/construct their perceptions of the world. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Peru, as well as in the US, Europe and Asia. She has been recognized by the Prix Pictet (2022), Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano, CPNA Contemporary Art Award (2020, 2024), American Illustration-American Photography (2019) and NextFoto Ibero-America (2014). In addition to her artistic practice, Adum Abdala teaches photography and in 2021, co-founded Galería Pública, a virtual gallery specializing in disseminating photographic production in Peru.
Solange Adum Abdala, Crónicas del Siglo XX, 2023-24. Courtesy of the artist
Mahsa Farzi
Mahsa Farzi (b. 1992) is an Iranian artist whose practice uses irony and dark humour to critique power, control, sexuality and the political forces that shape identity. In 2024, she was awarded the Joan Wright Hassell Prize in Visual Arts at the University of British Columbia and received the Best Thesis award for her MFA at the Art University of Tehran in 2018.
Mahsa Farzi, Untamed (detail), 2025. Courtesy of the artist
Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa
Living and working in Vancouver, Vanessa Mercedes Figueroa is an emerging artist exploring identity politics and critical theory to create a visual response and evaluate her positionality as a racialized, feminized individual. Figueroa’s work primarily functions through a diaristic lens, exploring the treatment of brown bodies in the sociopolitical period to allow for reevaluation and critical reflection.
Sarah Haider
Sarah Haider (b. 1996) is an emerging Pakistani multidisciplinary artist from Karachi who is now situated in Vancouver. She is currently pursuing her MFA at the University of British Columbia, working with the medium of smell to investigate themes of memory, gender, culture and storytelling. Haider holds a BFA in painting from the National College of Art, Lahore, where she developed her practice exploring the mediums of painting, photography, video and performance art to consider ideas of unconventional measurement of time and body politics. Haider was included in the Lahore Digital Arts Festival exhibitions in 2021 and 2023, and participated in the Mantiq of the Mantis residency project in 2019. In addition to her artistic practice, Haider has worked as an archivist, transcriber and educator.
Sarah Haider, ! چلو کے چلیں Chalo k Chalen! (Let’s go!) (detail), 2024. Courtesy of artist
Yuan Wen
Yuan Wen is an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver whose practice encompasses printmaking, drawing and installation. Her work explores the connections between nature, materials and human experience. As a first-generation Chinese immigrant, Wen draws upon Eastern philosophy and her cultural heritage to reflect themes of interdependence and transformation. She received a Graphic Design Diploma from Mohawk College, a Fine Arts Diploma from Langara College and a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Emily Carr University. Recognized with various awards, including the Audain Travel Award, the Helen Pitt Fund for Fine Arts and Judge W. K. Warrender Award, Wen has exhibited her work in British Columbia and Ontario, fostering a deeper connection to the natural world.
Yuan Wen, Rippling Roots: Cultivating Across Water and Land, 2024. Courtesy of the artist
