During an initial trip back to my native country of Iran in 2000, after years of absence, I started to sew together some of the images that were left behind in a raw attempt to connect past with the present, trespassing time and cultural boundaries. As I continued this work upon returning to the U.S. the sewing series grew in volume and content leading way to a more formalized process. The result was a reduction of content into singular subjects that were photographed in segments and later sewn together. Unifying and yet disruptive, the lines became a dichotomous element of each work, simultaneously creating and disrupting the illusion of its content. Subjects ranged from individual portraits to replicas of Greek statues from the #capitolinemuseum in Rome. The recently completed pieces follow the more calculated precision of lines used in my paintings from the past decade. Designed in advance, layouts for thread lines are used as a drawing tool to play with volume and space, absence and presence, light and shadow and to some extent the content of each work. Together, they are an homage to the way we see the world, in segments, never seeing the whole unless from a distance.

Curator: Roya Khadjavi Projects