Cultural Artist - Conceptual Anthropologist
Amidst Wind & Sky
Participative Performance
Commissioned by the Linden-Museum
Stuttgart, Germany
Flags are often contested for how they can be used to spread hate, extremism, and blind patriotism. However, behind the flag is ultimately an attempt to connect, to understand one’s own identity and the culture to which one belongs. Flags therefore also have a great potential to unite, as symbols of belonging and community. The participative performance “Amidst Wind & Sky” serves not only as a sort of Third Space where oppressed and oppressor can come together, free (if only momentarily) of oppression itself (Bhabha 1994), but more so as a space of collective healing and creative community-building where a flag is collaboratively realised through the different stories, experiences, traumas, and joys of its creators. A flag that says we are not separate and alone in the world, but rather we are all deeply entangled with each other; and it is through understanding how one person’s story is everyone’s story that we can work collectively today towards a better tomorrow.
Participative Performance
Commissioned by the Linden-Museum
Stuttgart, Germany
Flags are often contested for how they can be used to spread hate, extremism, and blind patriotism. However, behind the flag is ultimately an attempt to connect, to understand one’s own identity and the culture to which one belongs. Flags therefore also have a great potential to unite, as symbols of belonging and community. The participative performance “Amidst Wind & Sky” serves not only as a sort of Third Space where oppressed and oppressor can come together, free (if only momentarily) of oppression itself (Bhabha 1994), but more so as a space of collective healing and creative community-building where a flag is collaboratively realised through the different stories, experiences, traumas, and joys of its creators. A flag that says we are not separate and alone in the world, but rather we are all deeply entangled with each other; and it is through understanding how one person’s story is everyone’s story that we can work collectively today towards a better tomorrow.
This new painting represents the rite of passage I am entering, a PhD program in Cultural Anthropology, by honouring and drawing strength from my Afghan and Florida roots, as well as the golden ustad (teacher) that has helped me to clarify this new path I am embarking on. The symbol on the left is a Nuristani goat symbol from Afghanistan, representing confidence and sure-footedness and the blue footprints reference the nourishing blue spring waters of my birth province of Florida.
Rite of Passage: The Way of the Mushroom
Acrylic on Canvas
100x80cm
Acrylic on Canvas
100x80cm
The following small paintings are part of an ongoing series meant to pay further homage to the spirit of the golden ustad.
Champignon #1
Acrylic on Canvas 10x12cm Champignon #6
Acrylic on Canvas 10x12cm Champignon #8
Acrylic on Canvas 10x12cm Ancestor Power
Acrylic on Canvas 40x30cm |
Champignon #5
Acrylic on Canvas 10x12cm Champignon #7
Acrylic on Canvas 10x12cm Champignon #9
Acrylic on Canvas 10x12cm Soul Butter
Acrylic on Canvas 40x50cm |