These pieces are part of an extensive project that will likely consist of over a hundred works—a visual memoir capturing moments from my own life. The choice of black and white as the visual language stems from several reasons. Firstly, it reflects the past, a time that for me has lost its colour. It is minimalistic because life is fleeting, and time is scarce. It is simple because the details have faded from my memory. It is simple because I seek to challenge myself: to see how much can be conveyed through just a few lines and shapes.
This picture is a scene of my shopping in a supermarket in Baku during my visit to the Soviet Baku.
My mother (the one with a heart above her head) at work. She used to run a fashion workshop.
My mother (girl in front) in a wedding reception at Officers Club, 1954, Tehran, Iran.
Art, in all its forms, has always been an effort to say "I was here, we were here." From cave paintings to Frida Kahlo, each piece is a reflection of the artist's desire to leave a mark on the world. But beyond this, art has the power to convey something deeper. It can capture a moment in time, an emotion, a struggle, and immortalize it. This is what makes each person's biography unique and worth experiencing. It's not just the events that make up a life, but how they're told - how they're artfully crafted and presented. Whether through literature, music, painting, or film, each artist has the ability to bring their story to life and make it a part of something bigger. So the next time you come across a work of art, take a moment to appreciate the effort behind it. Not just the physical creation, but the story that inspired it. Because in the end, that's what makes art so valuable - it allows us to see ourselves in others, and to recognize that we're all just trying to say "I was here."
