Belonging, for me, is not defined by geography or citizenship, but by touch, memory, and material. In my practice, wool, silk, thread, and pigment are not passive mediums—they are carriers of stories. Each material I choose holds its own history, and together they weave a sensory language of where I come from, what I’ve lived through, and what I long for.
The textures I work with—soft, raw, tangled, refined—reflect states of emotional presence and absence. They speak of migration, loss, memory, and rootedness. Some materials feel ancient, connecting me to the tactile world of my childhood in Iran; others reflect the quiet surfaces of my present life in Germany. Through felting, layering, stitching, and painting, I bring these elements together—not just to construct visual forms, but to give shape to a sense of place that exists between worlds.
In this way, texture becomes a map of belonging. It allows me to trace identity not as a fixed concept, but as something shifting and felt. The unevenness of hand-spun wool, the subtle sheen of silk, the resistance of tightly knotted thread—all these gestures become part of an emotional terrain. They carry more than aesthetic value; they hold the weight of silence, resilience, and care.
Textures of Belonging is an ongoing inquiry into how materials can hold memory and embody meaning. Through them, I translate dislocation into form and offer a tactile language for what it means to belong when home is scattered across time, place, and material.
Felt, Paint & Reflection 