2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition

Shay Salehi (she/her) is a first-generation Canadian artist based in NYC. Working across a variety of mediums, she is anchored by a passion against human domination over nonhuman animals. Her research primarily focuses on the ethics of keeping non-human animals on factory farms, fur farms and in zoos, as well as the authority we hold over wildlife. Through texts that highlight the intersection between disability, race, labor rights, and gender alongside animal liberation, she has developed a comprehensive perspective of the structures that exist in our civilization that oppress these bodies. 

Shay’s current body of work establishes an alternative perspective that provides space to allow these bodies authority toward their agency. Through material specificity, she develops links between the industrialized and the body, both human and non-human. Her works function to elevate the stories of the non-human and introduces an opportunity for us to contemplate themes such as dominance, domestication, and ethics. By navigating the boundary in our interactions with other species, she also investigates the meaning and responsibilities of being human.

Shay Salehi is a New York based artist utilizing interdisciplinary sculpture and installation to explore themes of repetition and destruction.

In 2020, Shay received a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCADU) in Sculpture and Installation. Previous to OCADU, Shay studied glasswork at Sheridan College (2011-2014), and continues to make sculptural glasswork. Her work has been acquired by the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, QC and The Claridge Collection.  She is currently completing her MFA of Fine Art at Parsons New School in Manhattan, New York.