top of page
A Wor(l)d of Dichotomy
Worcester PopUp, 20 Franklin Street, 01608, Worcester, MA
Blue Mountain
Year: 2021
Dimensions: 18” x 72”
Dimensions: 18” x 72”
Fireflies
Year: 2021
Dimensions: 18” x 72”
Dimensions: 18” x 72”
A Lesson In Drawing (Reading)
Sighs of Iraq
Black Lotus
Year: 2021
Dimensions: 18” x 72”
Dimensions: 18” x 72”
Amber Tear Drops
“Amber teardrops
Tug vines in light winds
Daring to fly.”
- Maya Asbridge
Tug vines in light winds
Daring to fly.”
- Maya Asbridge
Weight of Words
In this turbulent time, I wanted to show contrasting values and at the same time show the weight of these values, where the heaviest one carries the
most significance from my point of view:
Freedom – Slavery; Tyranny – Democracy; War – Peace; Equality – Bias; Universal
Love – Hatred.
most significance from my point of view:
Freedom – Slavery; Tyranny – Democracy; War – Peace; Equality – Bias; Universal
Love – Hatred.
I Wish I Were A Bamboo
Year: 2021
Dimensions: 18” x 28” x 10”
“If only I were like the bamboo tree, free of attachments. We cut off a part of its
stalk and plant it, without roots, in any land. It doesn’t take the stalk long to grow
new roots. They grow again in a new land without a past, without memory. It
does not care about the different names people call it: Kawayan in the
Philippines, Khayzaran in Kuwait, or bamboo in other places.”
- Excerpt from “The Bamboo Stalk,” by Saud Alsanousi.
Dimensions: 18” x 28” x 10”
“If only I were like the bamboo tree, free of attachments. We cut off a part of its
stalk and plant it, without roots, in any land. It doesn’t take the stalk long to grow
new roots. They grow again in a new land without a past, without memory. It
does not care about the different names people call it: Kawayan in the
Philippines, Khayzaran in Kuwait, or bamboo in other places.”
- Excerpt from “The Bamboo Stalk,” by Saud Alsanousi.
A World of Dichotomy video
Truth
“The sea ebbs and flows and the moon wanes and waxes and time has summer and winter, but Truth doesn’t alter or pass away or change.” - Gibran
للبحر مد وجز وللقمر نقص وكمال وللزمن صيف وشتاء اما الحق فلا يحول ولا يزول ولا يتغير- جبران
للبحر مد وجز وللقمر نقص وكمال وللزمن صيف وشتاء اما الحق فلا يحول ولا يزول ولا يتغير- جبران
A Lesson In Drawing
This piece is a visual interpretation of a poem by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani called A Lesson in Drawing. The reading is on the right:
Truth (Detail)
“The sea ebbs and flows and the moon wanes and waxes and time has summer and winter, but Truth doesn’t alter or pass away or change.” - Gibran
للبحر مد وجز وللقمر نقص وكمال وللزمن صيف وشتاء اما الحق فلا يحول ولا يزول ولا يتغير- جبران
للبحر مد وجز وللقمر نقص وكمال وللزمن صيف وشتاء اما الحق فلا يحول ولا يزول ولا يتغير- جبران
Wise Jellyfish
Medium: Wooden bowls, Arabic calligraphy, shredded paper
Dimension: 5” each circumference of bowl
Year: 2022
Description: On each strand included in this piece are various quotes in Arabic.
Dimension: 5” each circumference of bowl
Year: 2022
Description: On each strand included in this piece are various quotes in Arabic.
Tuareg Talisman
The Tuareg people are about 2 million semi-nomadic tribe who live across the
Sahara dessert. Tuareg have been called the blue people for the indigo dye-
colored clothes they traditionally wear, and which stains their skin. They even
believe that they have blue blood running their veins.
Also, because they are superstitious and believe in the continuous presence of
various spirits “djinns,” most Tuareg men wear amulets that protect them from
evil. Hence, the pouch with a protective message in the art piece, which reads:
“May God protect you from all evil and wish you peace and prosperity.”
Sahara dessert. Tuareg have been called the blue people for the indigo dye-
colored clothes they traditionally wear, and which stains their skin. They even
believe that they have blue blood running their veins.
Also, because they are superstitious and believe in the continuous presence of
various spirits “djinns,” most Tuareg men wear amulets that protect them from
evil. Hence, the pouch with a protective message in the art piece, which reads:
“May God protect you from all evil and wish you peace and prosperity.”
Sighs of Iraq (on paper)
Blue Lagoon
Material: Saori weaving mounted on hand-made cradled wooden board;
Chinese lanterns, mixed media
Year: 2021
Dimensions: 24” x 36”
Chinese lanterns, mixed media
Year: 2021
Dimensions: 24” x 36”
Give Me The Flute
Material: Arabic calligraphy with Chinese ink on hemlock
Year: 2022
Dimensions: 5.5” x 19”
Description: From the poem, Give Me the Flute, by Kahlil Gibran
“People are nothing but lines
Which are scribbled on water”
Year: 2022
Dimensions: 5.5” x 19”
Description: From the poem, Give Me the Flute, by Kahlil Gibran
“People are nothing but lines
Which are scribbled on water”
Rambling Calligraphy
Medium: Birch wood, birch discs, rope, Buddhas nuts, shredded paper
Dimension: varies
Year: 2022
Dimension: varies
Year: 2022
Our Village
Medium: Paper Collage, mixed media
Dimension: 24” x 48”
Year: 2022
Description: This piece was made based on my own memories of my
grandmother’s house in a village near Palmyra, and my father’s poem reflecting
on his own memories of the same village. The poem has been translated into
English:
Our Village
Our village longs for ecstasy
Flaunts with sweet dreams
The universe is fields of
yearnings
Wheat stalks of gilded desires
Our village and the green moon
And the path takes a nap.
Like a myth, like a tale,
Flowers tell it to my heart; like a
fairy
Always hiding in a cloud,
In the bird's tweet.
Always searching for the
absolute
In her eyes, lilies hide
Our village is a child playing
with the young sun
Telling her sweet stories
About unknown legends
Her heroes are a knight and his
lady
A chariot in the color of the sun
Ishtar, o wild flowers
Or Sambac jasmine
Oh generous treasure that gives
endlessly,
tirelessly.
And one home cares for another
whispers to it
embraces it
They gaze at the shepherd
Sleeping at the foothills.
A knight looking for a conquest
Of a world that no one even
thought of,
Of a boat
Beating the furthest dimensions.
I’m drunk our village
I search in the red bricks,
In the bundles of the blonde light
For my song
For my voice
For the blood flowing in my
veins.
I’m drunk my village!
I spin from my soul the twilight,
Pour out from it the brilliance,
Then travel looking for a planet
For a shell
In the deepest of depths.
- Mohi Aldeen Al-Jurdi
ضيعتنا
ضيعتنا تصبو للنشوة
تزهو باحلامٍ حلوه
فالكون حقول صبابات ،
سنابل مذهبة الرغبات
ضيعتنا والقمر الاخضر
والدرب ينام في غفوه
كاسطورة..
كحكاية
يرويها الزهر الي قلبي ٠٠كجنية
تختبأ دوماً في غيمة
في تغريد العصفور
تبحث دوما عن المطلق،
تخبئ في عينيها الزنبق
ضيعتنا طفله تلهو مع الشمس
الطفلة
تروي لها حكايا حلوه
عن أساطير مجهوله
بطلاها فارس وصبيه ،
عربةٌ في لون الشمس
" عشتار" يا زهر البرية ، يا تُله !
يا كنزًا كريماً معطاءً
لا ينضب ابداً لا يتعب
يا بيتًا يحنو علي بيتي ،
يوشوشه٠٠ يعانقه
يرنو بعينيه الي الراعي
ينام هناك على السفح
يا فارسًا يبحث عن فتحِ
عن دنيا ما جالت في خاطر ،
عن زورق
يقتل ابعاد الابعاد
أنا سكران يا ضيعتنا
ابحث في القرميد الأحمر
في حزم النور الاشقر
عن اغنيتي
عن حنجرتي
عن دمٍ يورق في اوردتي
انا سكران يا ضيعتنا
اغزل من روحي الشفقا
أسكب منها الالقا
أرحل
ابحث عن كوكب
عن صدفة في اعماق الاعماق
Dimension: 24” x 48”
Year: 2022
Description: This piece was made based on my own memories of my
grandmother’s house in a village near Palmyra, and my father’s poem reflecting
on his own memories of the same village. The poem has been translated into
English:
Our Village
Our village longs for ecstasy
Flaunts with sweet dreams
The universe is fields of
yearnings
Wheat stalks of gilded desires
Our village and the green moon
And the path takes a nap.
Like a myth, like a tale,
Flowers tell it to my heart; like a
fairy
Always hiding in a cloud,
In the bird's tweet.
Always searching for the
absolute
In her eyes, lilies hide
Our village is a child playing
with the young sun
Telling her sweet stories
About unknown legends
Her heroes are a knight and his
lady
A chariot in the color of the sun
Ishtar, o wild flowers
Or Sambac jasmine
Oh generous treasure that gives
endlessly,
tirelessly.
And one home cares for another
whispers to it
embraces it
They gaze at the shepherd
Sleeping at the foothills.
A knight looking for a conquest
Of a world that no one even
thought of,
Of a boat
Beating the furthest dimensions.
I’m drunk our village
I search in the red bricks,
In the bundles of the blonde light
For my song
For my voice
For the blood flowing in my
veins.
I’m drunk my village!
I spin from my soul the twilight,
Pour out from it the brilliance,
Then travel looking for a planet
For a shell
In the deepest of depths.
- Mohi Aldeen Al-Jurdi
ضيعتنا
ضيعتنا تصبو للنشوة
تزهو باحلامٍ حلوه
فالكون حقول صبابات ،
سنابل مذهبة الرغبات
ضيعتنا والقمر الاخضر
والدرب ينام في غفوه
كاسطورة..
كحكاية
يرويها الزهر الي قلبي ٠٠كجنية
تختبأ دوماً في غيمة
في تغريد العصفور
تبحث دوما عن المطلق،
تخبئ في عينيها الزنبق
ضيعتنا طفله تلهو مع الشمس
الطفلة
تروي لها حكايا حلوه
عن أساطير مجهوله
بطلاها فارس وصبيه ،
عربةٌ في لون الشمس
" عشتار" يا زهر البرية ، يا تُله !
يا كنزًا كريماً معطاءً
لا ينضب ابداً لا يتعب
يا بيتًا يحنو علي بيتي ،
يوشوشه٠٠ يعانقه
يرنو بعينيه الي الراعي
ينام هناك على السفح
يا فارسًا يبحث عن فتحِ
عن دنيا ما جالت في خاطر ،
عن زورق
يقتل ابعاد الابعاد
أنا سكران يا ضيعتنا
ابحث في القرميد الأحمر
في حزم النور الاشقر
عن اغنيتي
عن حنجرتي
عن دمٍ يورق في اوردتي
انا سكران يا ضيعتنا
اغزل من روحي الشفقا
أسكب منها الالقا
أرحل
ابحث عن كوكب
عن صدفة في اعماق الاعماق
Fairuz: Ba’adana
Material: paper collage, mixed media, stones, beads, ribbon,
Year: 2022
Dimension: 24”x 47”
Description: This piece is a visual interpretation of a famous song by the Lebanese
singer Fairuz ‘Baadana’ (After We Leave).
Year: 2022
Dimension: 24”x 47”
Description: This piece is a visual interpretation of a famous song by the Lebanese
singer Fairuz ‘Baadana’ (After We Leave).
bottom of page