Description:
I held multiple workshops with students from schools across Los Angeles during which they were invited on a journey to discover their voices by exploring their own family narratives of immigration, displacement, and resilience. Their stories traverse the globe from Iran to New York and were expressed through collages, images, and narratives which were then folded into paper fortune-tellers. I transformed their small, crafted sculptures into a hand-sewn quilt that I hand-stitched over the course of months with my mother. Working side by side, while sewing, has become an integral part of my practice. It is by this means that we can spend unhurried time and in those moments when she is ready to share I am able to learn and discover further nuances about her refugee experience. Unfolded Narratives, hung as a tapestry, invites us to see how even though our histories may have different origin points and been shaped by different trajectories, all of our stories are connected, it is the patchwork of these narratives that can bring us closer together.
Title:
Unfolded Narratives
Year:
2022
Media:
Original printed cotton fabric, batting, thread
Dimensions:
9 x 12 feet
