2025

Ruminations on excerpts from a poem by Táhirih, the famed 19th century Persian feminist, Baha’i heroine and my grandmother’s namesake:

تا كى وكى

پندنيوشى

کنم چند

نهان بُلبُله

پوشى كنم

“How long must I

assent to what I hate

And hide the turmoil

of my inward state?”

Longing I (Crimson)

(oil on canvas, 500 x 750 mm)

“And never mention

that you’re far from me,

And hypocritically

preach and prate?”

چند ز هجر

توخموشى

كنم پيش

كسان زهد

فروشی كنم

Longing II (Cobalt)

(oil on canvas, 500 x 750 mm)

تا كه

شود

راغب

كالاى من

“How long

must longing

be the sum

of me?”

Longing III (Violet)

(oil on canvas, 500 x 750 mm)

A rumination on the opening couplets of Jalāl al-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī’s ‘Masnavi’, a 13th century compendium of Sufi wisdom:

The Song of the Reed (Right Leaf)

(various inks on paper, 640 x 970 mm)

A rumination on a famous poem from Sa’adi Shirazi’s ‘Guilstan’, a 13th century landmark work of Persian prose:

Bani Adam

(oil on canvas, 1000 x 1200 mm)

“Human Beings are members of a whole

In creation of one essence and soul

If one member is inflicted with pain

Other members uneasy will remain

If you have no sympathy for human pain

The name of human you can not pertain”

بنی آدم اعضای یک پیکر اند

که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند

چو عضوى به‌درد آورَد روزگار

دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرار

تو کز محنت دیگران بی‌غمی

نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی

A rumination on another poem by Táhirih, penned in the 19th century around the time of her execution by the Qajar court:

The Search for Truth

(oil on canvas, 600 x 900 mm)