Safiya Randera is a queer Muslim multidisciplinary artist based in Tkaronto with ancestral roots in Gujarat and Malawi. Her practice creates containers for connection, healing, and reflection, bridging virtual and physical spaces. Engaging with themes of community, spirituality, and ecological consciousness, her projects—such as Space Mosque, Ancient Future Now, Clear A Space In Experience And In That Space Cultivate Water, and And We Made from Water Every Living Thing—offer spaces for grief, pause, rest, and collective reflection, fostering communal healing and deeper connection.
Randera is known for her work in painting, experimental video, and large multi-channel video installations, with her videos bearing the tactile and layered qualities of her painting. Her short experimental films have addressed diverse topics, including disability, feminism, and multiculturalism, always seeking to hold space for marginalized voices and experiences.
Playing an active role in the Canadian arts community, Randera has taught film and social activism to at-risk youth through UShift and mentored for Inside Out Festival's Queer Youth Digital Video Project. She has served as a juror for the Gemini Awards, Reel World, Real Heart, and the Inside Out Film Festival. Randera pursued her formal training in Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design and continues to live and work in Toronto. She is the recipient of multiple awards, including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, as well as the Quebecor Documentary Fellowship, Hot Docs/CBC Best Pitch, and the NFB Talent Incubator.