I start with a key word. I draw or write what that word means to me or what it makes me think of and I continue with the chain of thoughts, the words and the drawings. My interest in key words and in words comes from my interest in language and from the interaction of different languages in my mind. Depending on which language I am thinking about for example the word “stone”: English, French or Persian; the images, the connotations and the associations of the same exact word differ from one language to the other. “Stone”, “Pierre” and “Sang” make me think about them differently.
In the process of my drawings, once I have decided on my key word, I try not to focus on why I am thinking of this specific word, image, poem, story or movie. I don’t question the continuity or the rhythm of the words and ideas. I keep going. I usually work fast as if not to forget what I was thinking about. It is after the drawings are done that I start to think about the course of my thoughts and I try to remake my mindset by the way I group the drawings. The installation and how the work is grouped and presented play an important role in my work.
I work on paper. I like the ephemerality of the paper and I would like to see how it would resist to time, to the touch, the steps and to the possible interaction of the viewers. Like language the paper changes with time, gets transformed by the people who have used it or are using it and is not by itself considered precious. It is just ‘there’ like language is, humbly serving us everyday. The drawings are done in black ink; I draw either with a brush, my hands or a wooden stick. The size of the drawings is usually poster size, 24” x 36” or bigger.