STATEMENT OF WORK

I was born in Isfahan, Iran, a city known for its historic gardens, tilework, and water infrastructure. I completed my undergraduate studies in photography in Tehran before moving to New York in 2019. In 2021, I began my MFA at Hunter College. My multidisciplinary practice draws on sculpture, photography, and installation, often rooted in architecture and the cultural symbolism of water. I am particularly interested in Persian garden design, where water is not only a vital resource but also a spiritual and political force. These gardens, often described as "paradise on earth," reflect a cosmological worldview in which water sustains life, offers balance, and connects the earthly and the divine.

In my work, I investigate how water systems, whether flowing through a garden or controlled in a colonial infrastructure, reveal deeper narratives of survival, identity, and power. My sculpture, Who's World Is This? (2023) takes the form of an octagonal ceramic fountain, guarded by four black snake figures that spit water when a viewer approaches. Activated by proximity sensors, the snakes represent the ambivalence of guardianship and threat, referencing both ancient symbolism and contemporary geopolitics. The work is inspired by the historical control of water in colonized territories, particularly in the Middle East, where access to water has long been used to assert political and economic dominance.

The ceramic tiles in this piece mimic a dry surface. When water touches them, they darken briefly before fading back to their original tone, a visual metaphor for scarcity and momentary relief. Light blue grout shifts toward cobalt when wet, introducing another layer of visual transformation. Also, the arches have Many tiles that are imprinted with photographic transfers of images I've taken in Iran, Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey, layered with found imagery of water containers, flowers, protest scenes, and architectural fragments. Together, these materials form a surface where memory, place, and resource politics converge.

Architectural elements like arches and steps also recur in my work, not just as structural forms but as symbolic thresholds. Inspired by the groin vaults and monumental arches of Islamic and pre-Islamic architecture, I see these forms as spaces where control and flow intersect. In a more recent work, I incorporated handmade ceramic tiles onto wooden arches, some printed with photographs, creating a surface that bridges strength, fragility, and memory.

Color also plays a symbolic role in my practice. The use of red, particularly in one of the arches, draws on Iranian protest art, where demonstrators have reclaimed blood-red fountains created initially by the state as acts of resistance. These gestures inform my own use of red as a color of defiance, transformation, and collective resilience.

Ultimately, my work creates spaces where architectural forms, cultural memory, and material transformation meet. I aim to explore the tension between control and survival, abundance and deprivation, telling stories that flow across borders, histories, and bodies.