THE IMMIGRANT
2016 - 2017
The Immigrant is a self-portrait series exploring the evolving relationship between heritage, migration, and identity. Born in response to the charged political climate surrounding Trumpās 2016 Muslim ban, the work reflects on how personal and collective histories intersect in the search for belonging.
Draped in a black dress, I integrate elements of my motherās and grandmotherās traditional Yemeni attire, using their scarves as a symbolic thread between past and present. Through different iterations of the seriesāsome unaltered, others intervened with silk-screen and hand-painted detailsāI examine the ways in which identity is both inherited and reshaped. In one version, gloves are repeatedly painted, evoking themes of labor and adaptation. In another, the scarves themselves are emphasized, reinforcing the significance of ancestral ties.
Photographed in natural landscapesāwheat fields and before modest dwellingsāthe series echoes migration, exile, and home. Inspired by Middle Eastern migration waves of the 1800s, it bridges historical narratives with contemporary struggles, posing the question: What do we preserve? What do we transform? And how do we redefine ourselves in the process?
Created during an artist residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, CO.