Transcendent Rose

This work was specificity created for the Wickford Art Association’s Poetry and Art Exhibition. My painting was a response and translation of a beautiful poem called ‘Roommates, 1978 For Afarineh’ by Poet Julia Meylor Simpson. The poem expresses the life of an Iranian woman studying in US in 1978. She was the only woman in an engineering school at a time when the Iranian revolution was happening in her homeland and she experienced judgment in a patriarchal world here in the States. Despite this, she maintained her culture and sense of inner peace. Rather than depict the divisive nature of culture, I chose to paint a symbol that unifies. The red rose is both the national flower of the US and Iran.

The exhibition was amazing, filled with incredible artists, poets and perfect weather for readings under a starry night by the ocean.