"I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth."
William Faulkner

"borhani": logic, proof (Farsi)

My artwork takes you on an adventure, a fantasy rooted in unseen burdens. I merge photography and painting in ethereal, intricate and narrative layers. I invoke places now decayed that hold a sense of pain, longing and purpose for us. I capture the complexity of history that saturates these places, that we carry within ourselves. History makes its demands and I try to meet them. In doing so I hope I make room for you in this world.

Biography

My visual art has been exhibited across the United States in venues including the Samuel Dorsky Museum, the Spiva Center for the Arts and the
Schweinfurth Art Center. Currently I am directing a feature documentary film, “The Improvements”, that illuminates how Urban Renewal and real estate reshaped a community.

In the 2010s, I began exhibiting assemblage work while I was also teaching art to incarcerated teenagers. I showed 3D work in libraries and 2D work in uptown NYC art spaces.

In the 2020s, I taught filmmaking to children of immigrants and migrants, and visual art to girls in secluded religious sects. I also founded a non-profit organization.

As a project-based artist, I pursue a visual style that merges brutality and lyricism, harsh realities and swelling dreams. I grew up as a newcomer in the Deep South. I came from a wider family fractured between three religions and a nuclear family moving forward in tandem with tragedy. The layers of the Southern land and people, and the layers of familial stories, half-truths and lies, pushed me to the documentation that is photography and the fantasy that is painting. Just as I exist across a trio of cultures, my work exists across a trio of media.

Interests lately:
how we price barrels of oil internationally
NTS music mixes
pouring concrete

Select Shows and Venues:
Bethany Arts Center
Blue Man Group
Mandarin Oriental Hotel
Garrison Art Center
Jane St. Art Center
Samuel Dorsky Museum
Schweinfurth Art Center
Spiva Center for the Arts
& private collections

Forays into Curation:
Forged Hands, Upstate Art Weekend site

“Painting is the silence of thought and the music of sight.”
Orhan Pamuk