I am an artist, activist, and educator whose labor-intensive, interdisciplinary painting practice questions normative cultural behaviors within contemporary power imbalances. As an Iranian American woman, I explore the cultural taboos that reflect on gender and political authority. My approach to figuration examines the role of anxiety and mental health within a polarized American psyche that reflects the cross-pollination—or lack thereof—in our Western Society.

To create art, it is imperative for me to be vulnerable, to extract the personal truths driven by my Diaspora, history, nostalgia, self-awareness, and rebellion. Much of my work revolves around the struggles of womanhood and navigating personal identity as a hyphenated individual. However, I believe that art must possess an element of vulnerability in order to provoke change—socially, intellectually, and morally. In a world where ideas of culture, political, and intellectual activities are evolving, what will this change mean for generations to come?