Celebration

I was born and spent the first 34 years of my life in Iran. My work is influenced by memories of my homeland and recent life experiences moving to Canada to live and study in Edmonton. In my mind, painting is very similar to poetry. I employ visual metaphors such as birds in flight, boats, greenhouses, balloons, waterfalls, fountains, sea waves, candles and flames to create a dream that is a picture of an ideal home. My paintings explored a confrontation between nature and culture. In this process, the landscape represents nature, and architectural structures represent culture. Now, living and studying in Canada, I find myself divided between two very different cultural contexts.