1. What is your favorite memory of the PhotoVogue Festival 2023?
Honestly forming so many sweet connections with community from all over! I know that word gets thrown around a lot but often in these spaces it can feel conditional. Who do you know, what do you look like, what can you do for me. It doesn’t transcend the aesthetic to something real. It’s like a sticker. Comes right off. PhotoVogue felt light and authentic, and for everyone. We could geek out on art things or just show up to a meal at someone’s home where you know no one but everything was with walls down. We talk with eye contact, you feel the warmth. We lifted each other up and kept in touch. That’s a beautiful thing.
2. How does your multicultural upbringing influence your work?
Color! Texture! Patterns! Sound! Something about minimalism and whiteness comes to mind. The pitch that you hear in a call to prayer at a mosque is the same as the pitch of a flamenco song. I don’t take that lightly. Everything is material, everything is collage. My dad is from Shiraz, Iran and my mom is from Sevilla, Spain and my childhood was a constant juxtaposition of culture at home and culture out in the world in Seattle. My mom used to have a flamenco dance group in the 90’s called Canela en Rama and they’d have parties in the backyard when most of the neighbourhood was quiet inside. They would perform at churches and malls and it used to embarrass me but now I understand what she was doing. Her form of world building with her people. Everything – faith, food, music, gestures – coexisted and complemented each other in such a special way. But growing up I didn’t know what to do with that energy. I was scared to lean into it, until I started to explore my relationship to the world through image-making. Tone is a visual and spiritual vessel for sure.