Breeze From the Past

2021

Solo exhibition at the “Art Produce Gallery”

Silk fabric, screen printing

15 yards x 90”

When I moved to America I have always felt a sense of otherness in society due to the different appearance of my hair among others. The subject of hair has led me to search more about its meaning to me and to different cultures. I started thinking about how I share the same DNA in the follicle of my hair with my loved ones especially my grandmothers back in my hometown, Tehran. Part of our culture is that women are not supposed to color their hair after their loved ones passed away and that’s why one of my grandmothers hasn’t colored her hair for more than 10 years after my grandfather passed away; or how women of native American culture burry part of their hair as a manifestation of burying old memories and while growing new hair they’re also making new memories. All of these narratives in different cultures always make me being more fascinated about hair.

The hair itself is a fascinating part of our body. How by going through stressful times or getting aged, you see some changes in the texture and color. The fact that how you cut it and it grows back, to me, feels like memories that they always find a way to grow back and make a new stem. That is why I like to integrate Persian poems into my works which a big part of my memories has built upon them. Inside of these screen prints of my hair, you can find some of those poems written in between the hair.

یک دست جام باده و یک دست جعد یار رقصی چنین میانه میدانم آرزوست

”مولانا“