Earth Bodies
ongoing, since 2018
Figures and landscapes meld in these works, and some combine flat and relief surfaces made out of collaged and painted paper, canvas, fabrics, and plaster. The sculptural quality of the relief pieces mimics a topography of self-constructed history and place. All the works allude to dislocation while re-integrating body and land, recovering from violence.
Black brown earth riot and golden, detail, 2023, paper pulp on foam, stiffened yarn, turmeric, coffee grinds, acrylic. Photo credit: Jacob Sait Ermete
Public collection of Arab American National Museum
Black brown earth riot and golden, top detail, 2023, paper pulp on foam, stiffened yarn, turmeric, coffee grinds, acrylic.
Photo credit: Jacob Sait Ermete
Black brown earth riot and golden, detail, 2023, paper pulp on foam, stiffened yarn, turmeric, coffee grinds, acrylic. Photo credit: Jacob Sait Ermete
Black brown earth riot and golden, bottom detail, 2023, paper pulp on foam, stiffened yarn, turmeric, coffee grinds, acrylic. Photo credit: Jacob Sait Ermete
Installation shot of Black brown earth riot and golden at Arab American National Museum, MI.
Photo credit: Jacob Sait Ermete
Rooted, 2023
Spiral body, 2024
Pulped, 2024
Cyclic, 2022, monoprint on paper, 31 x 32 inch
Cyclic detail, 2022, monoprint
Cyclic detail, 2022, monoprint
The Carriers/Breakers, 2022, watercolor, acrylic, embroidery thread, ink, on cut out paper, 42 in x 34 in high
The Carriers/ Breakers installation shot, Fowler-Kellogg Art Center, Chautauqua, NY
Gate, 2022
Flight, 2018, Paper, ink, acrylic, lace, fabric, stiffened canvas, 6 ft. tall x 5.5 ft
For many years, I revisited the viral image of “the blue bra woman,” an unnamed protestor from Tahrir Square who was viciously assaulted by the police in 2011. I was finally able to rework drawings of her figure enough to make this mixed media piece, caught between flying and falling.
Two of the relief pieces in conversation at Trestle Gallery
Midnight Turned Itself Over, 2020, Canvas, acrylic, plaster, wire, crochet, fabric, 4 ft x 7 ft x. 6.5 in
For Nadia Murad, 2018, Paper, acrylic, watercolor, 37 x 19 in
Waking Roses Are Dynamos (title from Etel Adnan poem) 2019, mixed media wall piece, variable dimensions
The essential form was reworked from an ancient Egyptian painting of a dancer, then her head became a cocoon made of camouflage fabric and twisted wire.
Waking Roses Are Dynamos, 2019, detail of top
Waking Roses Are Dynamos (title from Etel Adnan poem), 2019, detail