“The Re(in)flections of a Scabbing”
2025, installation, Wood, Mirror, Kurdish Sine Suja (Kilim) 48”x36”x6”.
“The Re(in)flections of a Scabbing” centers on a cut-out of a Kurdish kilim called Masî Derhem (mixed fish), a weaving pattern and style specific to my hometown, Sine, the type that I helped my grandmother weave during my childhood and through the war. As she weaved, she recited Kurdish and Judaic myths, using them to make it intelligible to me why family members have been imprisoned, why Kurds are persecuted, and why she puts hope in the work she does. “This row we make so your aunt is released soon,” she would say. She believed in the power of making, so do I. Mirrorwork is an artistic tradition that emerges from the act of repair, amendment, or reconjunction. Initially, broken pieces of mirror were used in the Middle East to adorn the internal spaces of shrines, mosques, palaces, and other significant areas by employing geometric patterns. This work pays attention to memory, the active-creative force of healing, and the internal center of our intergenerational connection that helps navigate turmoil, catastrophes, and hardship.
The cutout of the Masî Derhem Suja Kurdish kilim in the center of this piece is a cutout to create the hole in the sculptural work “Saving Through Warp and Weft.”
