We are inextricably tethered to the pigeon—both as subject and metaphor. Often dismissed as ordinary, pigeons carry profound narratives, weaving through childhood memories, urban folklore, and cross-cultural histories that speak to a complex and intimate bond between humans and these winged figures. Martha the Martyr is a video work that reflects on the colonial history of Toronto by abstractly interlacing threads of thought — from the extinction of the passenger pigeon and military technologies to feeding rituals and the enduring echoes of Palestine. The video is accompanied by a poem written by the artist, which served as the foundation from which the video emerged.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Faisal Karadsheh (b. 1999, Amman) is a Jordanian-Palestinian artist and cultural worker based in T’karonto/Toronto and Amman. His interdisciplinary approach spans painting, sculpture, sound, video, installation, performance, poetry, extended reality, and community organizing. His work straddles the line between imagination and the stuff of real life—memory, power, gender, religion and history. He has showcased work and participated in art residencies in cities across Ontario, like Toronto and Kingston, as well as internationally, in Beirut, Bangalore, Kuala Lumpur and Amman. Most recently, he was the Artist-in-Residence at the South Asian Visual Arts Center (SAVAC) in Toronto.