The Great White North, 2015. Inkjet print and sabzeh (grass).
Installation, Dundurn St. pieces
Dundurn St., 2015. Inkjet print and found objects.
Traces
Anyone Home? 2015. Inkjet print and bird nest.
The Great White North, 2015
Inkjet print and sabzeh (grass)
The Iranian new year, Nowruz (literally “new day”), is celebrated on the spring equinox. As part of this tradition, seven specific objects, the Haft Seen, are arranged in a spread at home. Sabzeh, one of the Haft Seen, is grown from wheat or lentils in a dish and symbolizes rebirth and the hope for prosperity in the coming year.
The first twelve days of the new year are celebrated as part of the Nowruz holidays. The thirteenth day represents the return to ordinary life. The thirteenth day, celebrated through Sizdah Bedar, usually involves having a picnic in nature with friends and family. The purpose of Sizdah Bedar is to get rid of the Sabzeh by throwing it in a flowing body of water such as a river. The Sabzeh is believed to have absorbed all the sickness, pain, and ill-fate awaiting the family in the new year. Therefore, letting it wash down a river represents getting rid of those things and endowing one’s family with good fortune and prosperity.
In recent years, due to the high population and ongoing drought in Iran, following every Sizdah Bedar I noticed countless Sabzeh lying all dried up on the roadside.
Dundurn St. (Two works)
Inkjet prints and found objects
I do a lot of walking. Dundurn Street South is the road I walk down every time I travel from Hamilton, my adopted city, to Toronto, my other adopted city. As I walk down Dundurn from Main Street West to King Street, I often find interesting objects.
Traces
The Great White North, 2015
Inkjet print and sabzeh (grass)
The Iranian new year, Nowruz (literally “new day”), is celebrated on the spring equinox. As part of this tradition, seven specific objects, the Haft Seen, are arranged in a spread at home. Sabzeh, one of the Haft Seen, is grown from wheat or lentils in a dish and symbolizes rebirth and the hope for prosperity in the coming year.
The first twelve days of the new year are celebrated as part of the Nowruz holidays. The thirteenth day represents the return to ordinary life. The thirteenth day, celebrated through Sizdah Bedar, usually involves having a picnic in nature with friends and family. The purpose of Sizdah Bedar is to get rid of the Sabzeh by throwing it in a flowing body of water such as a river. The Sabzeh is believed to have absorbed all the sickness, pain, and ill-fate awaiting the family in the new year. Therefore, letting it wash down a river represents getting rid of those things and endowing one’s family with good fortune and prosperity.
In recent years, due to the high population and ongoing drought in Iran, following every Sizdah Bedar I noticed countless Sabzeh lying all dried up on the roadside.
Dundurn St. (Two works)
Inkjet prints and found objects
I do a lot of walking. Dundurn Street South is the road I walk down every time I travel from Hamilton, my adopted city, to Toronto, my other adopted city. As I walk down Dundurn from Main Street West to King Street, I often find interesting objects.