Javid Jah is an interdisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Developing a studio with projects migrating between public art murals and contemporary architecture, Javid’s practice explores how marginal identities (graffiti, Islam) impact spatial design. Much of his work is influenced by Op Art representations of cosmology, using anamorphism to re-imagine traditional, sacred geometries.
Recent projects include The Universe Within exhibited outside of Union Station in Toronto and Sacred Futures, a podcast recorded as part of Luminato Toronto, 2021. An experimental public art projects known as XSITE will make a return in 2022 as part of Toronto’s Year of Public Art, having initially being installed at David Pecaut Square during Nuit Blanche 2019. Other notable works include the King of the North Kawhi Leonard mural (collaboration with @_________moises), Majma al-Bahrain at the Aga Khan Museum Park, and self-center - an anamorphic mural installed at Kennedy Station TTC RT Platform in 2018.
Currently, Javid is experimenting with space-making via modified shipping containers, working with Wonder Inc to design temporary and permanent spaces for public and private use. Since completing architecture school at Daniels, University of Toronto in 2013, Javid has completed a dozen residential buildings including the first multi-storey shipping container home in Toronto on Queen St West.
As a street artist, Javid is a member of the XYZ Collective - a crew of mural painters based in Toronto. Working closely with Moises Frank aka Luvsumone, XYZ has produced a number of large scale installations locally and internationally, including murals in New York, Baltimore, Miami, Medellin, Bogota and Maracay, Venezuela. In South America, Javid is part of the Khimera Attack Crew (KAC), a collective of international graffiti artists representing Colombia, Brazil, USA, Canada and Switzerland. This past year, Javid was selected as a member of Neo-Gravity, an international collective of graffiti artists exploring geometric abstraction through mural production and fine art.