projects
photos by jadi darawi.
the name of, 2026
“the name of” was a residency for trans artists hosted at gibraltar point centre of the arts and facilitated by maddie alexander. jadi’s first artist residency, this opportunity allowed for a unique sense of community building among trans and gender-non-conforming artists, as well as ample time for creative practice and exploration. the residency culminated in an exhibition/open studio in march of 2026, at which jadi presented their piece “tsarzardar.” this work, so-named after the ancient armenian pagan festival, explored ritual, festival, and the sacred through artistic practice and community engagement.
photos by jadi darawi.
collective / memory, 2025
jadi has been a participating member of tatreez circle toronto since august 2025, and has supported the group facilitators with teaching tatreez to others for most of that time. collective / memory was jadi’s first exhibition with tatreez circle toronto, in which a gallery wall of tatreez pieces was displayed at sur gallery from october to december of 2025. jadi contributed one piece, which reads “soldiarity” in arabic (top row of text) and “together” in armenian (bottom row of text). the piece also features a red poppy flower and blue forget-me-not flowers. the flowers and text represent jadi’s passion for cross-cultural solidarity and community care between palestinians and armenians.
graphic by jadi darawi.
odar press, 2025
founded by jadi darawi in 2025, odar press is an independent press. publications are created by armenians of varying experiences, and include folklore, spirituality, artwork, writing, and more. “odar,” meaning outsider in the armenian language, refers to the feeling of being an outsider or someone who does not belong, even when in one’s own community. this term, although typically used to refer to non-armenians, can also be used in a negative way towards armenians who do not adhere to the status quo, such as feminists, queer or transgender people, mixed race people, muslim or other non-christian armenians, et cetera.
photos by jadi darawi.
building home, 2025
building home was jadi’s first solo exhibiton. a collection of works created over the course of their undergraduate degree (primarily the last two years of that degree) was displayed at cahoots theatre in toronto. the collection, which included carpentry, embroidery, millinery, and jewellery, was an exploration of their personal journey throughout their degree to build themself a home, both physically with these objects, and emotionally through a network of people who now make up their friends and family.
meher pavri as the opera singer, with neil d’souza as krishna and anaka maharaj-sandhu as arjuna. photo by david cooper.
mahabharata, 2025
mahabharata, a staging of the sanskrit epic by why not theatre, has toured to cities in the united states, canada, australia, and the united kingdom. jadi was excited to work on the toronto stop of mahabharata’s international tour. their role had two parts: they were the assistant production manager and assistant technical director for the part one and part two of the play (each three hours long), as well as production and stage manager for a special middle section, in which the audience is fed an indian vegetarian meal, and a story is performed by two of the actors (one hour long). mahabharata is seven hours long from start to finish, or can be seen in two days, one half on each day.
photo by wade muir.
r.a.v.e., 2024
their second collaboration with luminato festival, jadi was pleased to stage manage the production r.a.v.e. produced by outside the march, in association with luminato festival toronto and dj metime, this production both emulated the energy of a rave and was itself a play about rave culture. this was a uniquely involved production that drew in the audience to be a part of the performance, as well as involving jadi and their coworkers on the production team.
left: photo by suzie hamel. centre: photo by suzie hamel. right: photo by jadi darawi.
festival de cirque des iles, 2022
jadi had the privilege of working with the festival de cirque des iles (cirque festival of the islands) in les-iles-de-la-madeleine, quebec, in the summer of 2021 and the summer of 2022. in 2021, they were a volunteer member of the backstage crew team, and in 2022 they returned as a paid employee in the role of stage and dressing room manager. during their time at the festival in 2022, they spent many days working with the crew to set up the circus tent and build the stage!
