REAL GANGSTERS SHOW LOVE: UNITY THROUGH ADORNMENT
A solo exhibition by Canadian Iraqi multidisciplinary artist Rasta Roba
February 6–13, 2026
Opening: February 6, 5–9 PM
Location: 108 E Broadway (Back Alley)
Open to all viewers
In REAL GANGSTERS SHOW LOVE: UNITY THROUGH ADORNMENT, Rasta Roba presents the human body as a sacred site shaped by ritual, movement, and adornment. Created on the unceded ancestral lands of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation, the works emerge from a spiritually grounded practice that treats art-making as both ritual and offering.
Guided by ancestral wisdom, Roba engaged in a daily embodied movement practice during the creation of this exhibition, transforming rhythm and motion into spiritual grounding. The figures adorned with fragments of Ntoma cloth, appear as living Gods rather than symbols, asserting the body itself as divine and worthy of decoration.
Drawing from Middle Eastern, Indian, and African maximalist traditions, the work embraces color, pattern, and abundance as forms of power and cultural affirmation. The exhibition ultimately exists as a living altar, honouring unity through difference and celebrating the many ways humans recognize the divine.
Artist: @rastaroba & @rastaroba.art