WORRY FLOWERS
Ink and Paint on Paper, 2021-Ongoing
The Worry Flowers are a twisted menagerie, giving visual expression to the dangers of gathering our problems around us until we can’t see past them. A series of hand scripted calligraphy works on paper, these serve a dual use for larger three dimensional works. Hand scripted Arabic words for worries and burdens form each flower. Words are selected for their representation of challenges and burdens, as well as their potential for both positive and negative interpretations.
The flowers represent the dangers of becoming our worries and letting them overtake us. They manifest the gentle balance between beauty and pain, benefit and drawback, disguising hardship with falsity. The work also touches on the way in which Arabic words, with multiple levels of meaning, enrich our understanding of each.
The Worry Flowers feature in the conceptual works Bouquet of Burdens (private collection) and The Only Way Out is Through (in progress)
They were presented in the group show A Very Narrow Bridge at the Museo Ebraico in Lecce, Italy in 2022-3.
2023
2023, Ink on paper, 11"x14" The Arabic word for Confusion, ارتباك, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2023, Ink on Paper, 11x14"
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2023, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Loneliness,عزلة, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Love, حب, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Love, حب, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Desperation, ياس, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2023, Ink on paper, 7x7" The Arabic word for Desperation, ياس, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Infatuation, وله, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Infatuation, وله, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Doubt, شك, is repeated to form this floral shape. Arabic speakers will notice the 3 nuqda necessary to form the letter Seen have been left out to maintain aesthetic and structural integrity in this design, intended to be cut as a single piece.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Doubt, شك, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Doubt, شك, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Despair, قنوط, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Despair, قنوط, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Diversion/Distraction, لهو, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Diversion/Distraction, لهو, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Caring, نهتم, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Anxiety, قلق, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Awkward/Stringent, حرخ, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2023, Ink on paper, 12"x13" The Arabic word for Anxiety, قلق, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2021, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Pregnancy/Burden, حمل, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2021, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Pregnancy/Burden, حمل, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2021, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Burden/They, هم, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2021, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Burden/They, هم, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2022, Ink on paper, 6x6" The Arabic word for Love, حب, is repeated to form this floral shape.
2023, mixed media (spray paint, stencil film, wire), size not fixed.
2023, mixed media (spray paint, stencil film, wire), size not fixed.
2022, mixed media (spray paint, cut stencil film, wire), 1.5" L x 1.5" W 3"H Individual petals formed from the word "Distraction" are woven together with wire stems to form this 3-d flower.
BOUQUET OF BURDENS
2022, Mixed Media (Cut paper, Calligraphy, Spray Paint, Wire), 18" H x 13" W x 9" D, Private collection
Created from the Worry Flowers series, each of these begins as a 2-d calligraphic work. The flower is created from a single repeated word, then cut and molded with wire to form a three dimensional object. The stems and leaves are sculpted using rough-edged wire. Overall the effect is bright and attractive, yet the underlying framework is spindly and barbed with thorns.
The bouquet is reminscient of a long decayed vase of real flowers which the owner won’t get rid of, akin to the way people get stuck in a loop of retelling their issues and begin to self identify with them. Similar to the way in which a forgotten vase seems at first glance to be something positive you’d like kept around, these attractive and delicate works harbor sinister undertones in meaning and form.
40x40x60cm Mixed media, 2022
