Selected works from 2014 to 2020 tracing early inquiries into lineage, land, borders, and systems of value.
Relief prints pieced together with thread . 11.5 x 10 . 2016
A response to the December 2016 escalation of the ongoing bombings and massacre in Aleppo. My great-grandparents were weavers in Syria. With thread becoming too difficult to obtain from Aleppo, the country's former artisanal hub, weavers across Syria have been forced to abandon their looms and legacies.
Relief print collage . 44 x 30 . 2016
The people that make Syria more than an abstract notion of place and nation are now spread across continents and cultures, carrying pieces of their former home. The piece is comprised of many small rectangles procured from multiple relief prints. The tents in the Za'atari refugee camp occur in orderly lines, but the humanity within is cramped and displaced. Upon close inspection, most ordered systems reveal complexity, inefficiency, and chaos.
Hand sewn thread on watercolor paper . 48 x 36 . 2016
I found my attention and concern for the Syrian refugee crisis to wax and wane with the media cycle. My distance and privilege allowed me to check in and out at leisure. This project began as an effort to increase my awareness and stay in touch.
I use google satellite images as a matrix to create representations of the many Syrian refugee camps. Drawing on my family's history of weaving for material inspiration, I use thread to hand stitch the images. This particular camp is in Za'atari on the Jordan-Syrian border. The juxtaposition of many small marks within a large-scale aim to highlight the enormity of the crisis. This is part of an extensive ongoing series.
Photogravure . 6 x 9 . 2015
This print looks like an antiquated photograph of a girl wearing a headscarf. In fact, the subject is my very American daughter playfully wrapping her scarf around her head. I used photogravure to heighten the disconnect between old and new, my Syrian heritage and American upbringing. I reap the benefits of my grandparents' immigration. I am safe, my kids are safe. Exploring the history and progression of my cultural context, I pay homage to their journey.
Intaglio . 12 x 9 print area . 2017
Struck by the aerial views of the expansive Za'atari refugee camp, I began thinking about borders as invisible lines humans draw on the land. Sorry you can't come in here, you were born on that side of the line. The red lines are deconstructed borders of the Middle East, Europe, and North Africa. The deconstructed borders looked vascular to me. I was reminded of one of my favorite scientific facts. The iron in all of our blood was forged in a common star.
Hand sewn thread on watercolor paper . 30 x 22 . 2015 to 2016
In the Pixelated Country series I use my photographs as a matrix to sew abstracted cornfields. I carefully immerse myself in the fields, allowing consideration for the environmental and social issues surrounding these ubiquitous landscapes. Visually, I perceive the gentle slopes between rows to hold a natural and humble beauty. In reality, this effect is a byproduct of mechanized agriculture. Technological farming advances have allowed for previously unthinkable increases in scale and efficiency. Similarly, the ability to render an image is aided by digital technology. These advances allow for increases in volume and yield and decreases in time spent. I reverse this process by using my digital photographs as a matrix to hand sew this series with needle and thread. Stitching up and down the rows, I replicate the order, beauty, and quiet menace of mechanized agriculture.
Hand sewn thread on watercolor paper . 30 x 22 . 2016
Hand sewn thread on watercolor paper . 30 x 22 . 2016
Drypoint and relief print collage . 3.75 x 20 print area . 2015
This land is your land, this land is my land. It is interesting that we are able to buy something that existed before currency. Plotting out the land, humans create the quilted landscape observable in a plane. I utilize collage to emulate this phenomenon in repeated sections of the same print, articulating the expansiveness of the landscape.
$20 bills, $1 bills, masking tape . 28 x 69 . 2020
I had been trying to spend less money on material, so I used my money as material. I emptied out my savings account and made an American flag. It is held together by masking tape so I can deposit it again if I need to.
Mixed media . dimensions and year forthcoming
Documentation forthcoming.