My work primarily revolves around relationships that exist in darkness, where we, for whatever reason, attempt to conceal them from ourselves or others, leading to deep contradictions between what we perceive in relationships and what actually exists. In simpler terms, it’s a troubled modernism that culminates in expressionism. We’ve somewhat closed our eyes and distanced ourselves from realities. We’ve detached from our beliefs to assimilate into the global flow of modern cultures, but it seems we’ve failed. My childhood shyness and the pressure to perform tasks to be a proper girl for my family and society, alongside profound constraints as a woman in a seemingly modern yet deeply traditional society, where relationships have been utterly void and I’ve always struggled with articulation, have engulfed my entire being without my intention, compelling me to present the most spontaneous state in absolute silence on the canvas. I’ve never consciously tried to depict these rifts in my works. Only when I was in Iran, I used bright backgrounds, knowing my spirit as a woman in society has become very dark. And those backgrounds, by entering the long nights of northern lands and absolute darkness without manipulation towards darkness, which entirely demonstrates the difference in place and time, where people are so free they don’t need to fight for the slightest right or hide behind colorful masks. Sometimes stitches are visible in my works, indicating dependencies, or on the other hand, silence and ignorance of realities. The figures in my paintings are never naked and don’t attempt self-representation; they’re not just what they seem. They become puppets, controlled, pitied, having a place for themselves, but they all know they’re masked. Are we sincere with ourselves in the real world, or are we always in illusion and imagination?
