My work represents a struggle against our natural instinct to classify, generalize, and simplify everything into tangible units of information. Borderlines are imaginary constructs, made to exist only through a collective acceptance.
I find spaces between the borders. Born to a Middle Eastern scientist and a Far East Asian artist, I was raised speaking English in homes that frequently shifted between the Middle East and Midwest America. I became a true “Third Culture Kid”. My perception was molded not only by my history, but also by my present, which is characterized by a continuous change in geographies, set of values, and states of peace & conflict. This constant state of transition revealed the beauty & expansiveness of the elusive & ambiguous spaces that I inhabit.
In searching for these spaces, my work leads me to explore hybrid identities and cultures, the coexistence of opposing elements, the complex relationship between the signifier and the signified, the multifunctional object, and human connection beyond constructed barriers.
The spaces between borders incite fear, because they remain nameless and indefinable. I can only hope to capture the magical mystery of these spaces to transcend fear, and render the intangible real.
