ARTIST STATEMENT
Being out of your comfort zone. Being far away from the people you know how to behave around. At the same time, you feel distant from the people you live among. You don’t know if you put your thoughts into words deep enough or if you are understanding others’ thoughts correctly.
I made this series using the pictures I had taken while talking with my family back home. Here I should mention that the flight back home takes almost 24 hours.
It is fascinating how close and in reach they look on the screen of my phone, but they are not. All of these make the screen very special. The phone is with me almost everywhere and I touch the screen a lot. The small square frame in which my family lives.
When I look at the smiles in the pictures, I cannot be sure how much of it is real and how much of it is just to make me not worry as I do so. I mean during our conversations we censor our talks, feelings, and emotions and all we think about is that distance….
I use wood for my works because I wanted to emphasize on being touchable. I wanted something more massive than a piece of paper or canvas. In addition, I burnt the lines into the wood the way I feel and dragged the line over the wood just the way tears fall down from my eyes into the pillow before sleeping.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shahrbanoo Hamzeh is an Artist graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in painting in May 2021. Prior to this, she has gotten a Master’s degree in Painting from Alzahra University in Tehran, Iran. Her undergraduate degree focused on Iranian Art and Culture from Kashan University, Iran.
Her studio practice is mainly focused on human rights violations in her home country, Iran, especially towards women. She believes it is not easy to be an Iranian woman, not in Iran, or anywhere else. Her homeland is facing many problems and conflicts these days, which is why her works are focused on the ideas of home, home country, leaving, loss, safety, and longing.
© Shahrbanoo Hamzeh