Statement

 Displacement and movement are part of my life. The unpleasant conditions and bad economy of my country, Iran, forced me and my family to immigrate to Sweden. This dislocation was the first time that I was forced to migrate, but not the last. Although it gives me the opportunity to experience new cultures, it always comes at a price. It separates me from my roots – family, friends and the culture which I love.

Sometimes my artwork shows the excitement and joy of my journey, but often it shows my sense of loss and separation. I work in a world between; painting and sculpture; lost and found; two dimensions and three dimensions; resident and refugee. I layer personal history, organic motifs, global influences, and cultural patterns which frame my experience.

 Process plays an important role in my work. Often I do not begin working with a solid plan, only an intention or direction. I trust whatever happens at the moment. Objects talk to me, I listen and react. Other times projects begin with a very specific idea and I may spend years gathering and assembling the right material for that installation.

The process of building work through layering creates an opportunity to participate in the same type of cultural accretion as is seen in the history of a refugee. Beneath the modern cities of the old world lie the ruins, and memories of generations. Similarly the buildup of paint and repair materials in a wall or painting, records the decisions, mistakes and progress of a room and the physical movement of the artist.

While history may become petrified and weighty, individual experiences and cultural details can retain specificity and delicacy. I utilize magazines, paper, fabric, cardboard, and pins as sculptural media to show this fragility. They need to be conceptually strong and flexible to mesh with their environment while keeping their own identity.

There is a sense of movement in the work that reflects the constant progress of life. Topographical allusions of relief and erosion, heights and depths, illustrate the map of my memories. Within each process are symbols and metaphors with multiple readings - from cartography to chronology; the history of a people; the memory of a migrant; the place of worship; the artifact of significance. Light and shadow play across the landscape of these objects and installations adding metaphorical elements to the dimensional experience of walking, traveling through and into the distance, the darkness, the past.