Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [ca. 1960s]-2021 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3416 photographs : col. & b&w ; various sizes
1709 photograph negatives : col. ; 35 mm
150 photograph negatives : col. ; 110 film
1 photograph negative : col. ; medium format
952 GB of born-digital and digitized records
134 CDs : CD-R
68 audio cassette tapes
169 videocassettes : VHS
17 videocassettes : MiniDV
14 videocassettes : VHS-C
1 cm of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born in 1955 in the village of Awehang in Rojhelat (Eastern Kurdistan) into a large family, Faithi spent much of his early years working the fields and farms of Kurdistan. At the age of 19, he joined the Society of Revolutionary Toilers of Iranian Kurdistan (commonly referred to as Komala), a political party which advocates for self-determination of Kurdish people.
After the Iranian revolution in 1979, the Islamic regime, which gained power, did not accept the Kurdish demands for autonomy, leading to an uprising in Rojhelat. An active Komala member, Faithi, who by this time was also known by his fighter name, Satar Awehang, took to documenting life of the Peshmerga resistance fighters he served alongside, as well as their families and daily life in Rojhelat, through photography.
As the Islamic regime in Iran suppressed the resistance, Faithi fled to Istanbul in 1985, where he sought asylum. During his time there he continued to document the Kurdish people in exile. In the early 1990s, he came to Canada as a refugee, after settling in Toronto, he worked primarily in construction, but continued to work with his archive of photographs, video and audio from the Kurdish resistance, delivering “night shows on the archives of Komala in Kurdistan”, where he presents material from his archive on a certain topic. These home movie presentations were often presented on Facebook to his followers. He also continued to capture photographs of protests and other events in Canada.
Faithi's life and archive were filmed as part of a 2025 documentary, "Guerilla Archive", done in collaboration with Chowra Makaremi and Shahrzad Mojab.
Archival history
Some of Faithi's photographs remain in the Komala Archive Centre in Erbil, Kurdistan (Iraq), this fonds includes some digitized copies of that material which were sent to him over the years.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
The materials were created and collected by Setar Faithi and stored in his Toronto apartment for many years. The preservation of the archive was encouraged by Amir Hassanpour, a professor at the University of Toronto. The transfer to the University of Toronto Scarborough was facilitated by Hassanpour’s widow, Professor Shahrzad Mojab, and Chowra Makaremi.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists primarily of photographic and audio-visual material created or collected by Setar Faithi. The bulk of the material chronicles Kurdish experiences, primarily the Komala struggle against in the Islamic Regime in Iran in from 1979 through the mid-1980s. Faithi’s photographs depict all aspects of life in the Kurdish resistance, and continue to capture his experiences in Istanbul and Canada. In addition to audio-visual materials, the fonds also includes correspondence concerning the struggle. Many of the materials in the fonds were used in creating home videos by Faithi.
The fonds also consists of digitized copies of material sent to Faithi from Kurdistan.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
The materials were arranged in a certain order by Faithi. Where possible his arrangement has been maintained; however, where it is unknown the Archivist has imposed order.