SAFAR: JOURNEY

24" x 24"
Collage and mixed media

I made this piece over many months. It's about the imagined journeyings of my ancestors since biblical times...across millennia and geography, languages and symbols. My study of Farsi over the last few years springs from a sense of ancient family travels through Persia in the deep distant past.

This collage includes a snippet of Jaleh Esfahani's beautiful poem in Farsi, 'Illuminated Blue Ship', Some of her poems are sad, poignant, and speak to the same themes as my 'Safar' series; mysterious journeys, fracture, and longing. This piece celebrates, too, my fascination with ancient stones and mosaic, scrolled ironwork, beads and symbols against the deep dreamy blue of the unknown.