I am proud to have work in a group exhibition of artists hosted online by the Berlin Collectiv. Katia Hermann is the curator. My work is titled “Iris Sparks” and Katia wrote that my work is ‘scientific’ in that the cells and fibers of the Iris flower appear x-ray like. This is something I aim for in depicting the camera-free flora I chose.
On October 16th and 17th I am thrilled to display my new Iris series at Gowanus Open Studios, Brooklyn, NY from 12 – 6pm each afternoon. The address is Shapeshifter Lab, 18 Whitwell Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215.
My Iris Triptych series explores new ways to capture these flowers. Every year when the Iris blooms in Spring, I attempt to evoke their beauty and their spiritual essence. In Japan, Iris is revered for its purifying properties. In many cultures the Iris stands for wisdom, trust, hope and valor. What better flower to bloom as Spring begins?
This year I attempted to display this flower’s energy. Through the calligraphic movement I employed to paint the palladium on the Japanese gampi paper to the exposure using sunlight, my thought was to convey the elegance and dynamism of these flowers.
At Arts Gowanus Open Studios, one of the collages I exhibited is about the movement and protest by Iranian women for their rights in what is called: Woman.Life.Freedom. My works used flowers to symbolize the beauty of life and its fragility. Flowers are associated also with the cycle of life from seed to flowering to fruiting to death and then back to regeneration. The woman’s hand weaving through the snakeskin also alludes to the cycles of regeneration. The inspiration for this print is the ancient sculptures of the serpent divinity, usually a woman who holds and is embraced by snakes. The serpent is a symbol of feminine wisdom.
This particular art work is a response to the outcry by women in Iran and now all over the globe. Woman.Life.Freedom resonates with the transformation all women seek for equality, no matter where they live.