since I was 10 or 11 years old, I always advocated & tried to preserve my cultural heritage amidst the chaos my region has been victim to. even at an age where I couldn’t utter my full name without having an anxiety attack, I knew how important it was to share the richness of my lineage, my ancestors, my culture.
i’ll be a vessel for the love and life my iranian heritage has given me for the rest of my life. iran, i owe everything i am, every fiber of my being to you. i dream of you, i pray for your liberation.
may humans everywhere get to live in peace.
#freeiran
“surrender” 18 x 24” by @jasminfrisk
a piece that embodies embracing the vulnerable yet powerful flow of detaching from outcome, releasing control of the unknown and gracefully accepting uncertainty
captured on portra 400 + digi
when friends make art!!! nothing replaces this feeling!!!
happy 1 million to a gem of an artist and song, orbit by @aksharuh ˚𓍢ִ໋🧚🏻₊˚ʚ 🪷 ₊˚
styled by my beautiful best friend @__byrumsha <3
I took these photos before my move to new york, I can’t express how proud I am looking back on them. so much rawness, honesty, and femininity are apparent and felt through Akshara’s essence — love, love, love!!!
in my set design & interior design bag as of lateeeee….i had soooo much fun assisting @traylorhunt on this event for @senoritadrinks 🍸🍸🍸🍸🫒🫒🫒 living my dream no one wake me up!! 💤💤💤💤💤
a modern take on gaz, a traditional Persian nougat from Isfahan.
as much as cultural preservation is a duty we all share, the emergence of it in new forms is also essential. inherent to human consciousness is expansion and change. things are meant to change, we are meant to change. sometimes we resist that change, but what comes from it is a new opportunity and way to engage with life.
that is exactly what can be felt through these beautiful and delicious gazmallows creates by @joon.eats . taking something like gaz, that is so established within iranian culture, and transforming it into something new is an act of love. this product becomes a new way to share and showcase a culture that we love so much; the birth of a new object that represents our urgency to remain in relationship with a country and land we hold so much reverence for.
our hearts are always in Iran, and integrating our love for this land through our art is something we will continue to do for the rest of our lives.
shauna, you did your big one with this creation <3
at around 3 a.m. last night, local Tehran time, my cousin woke up to the sounds of a strike and its impact in our neighborhood in Tehranpars.
this was a targeted strike on a government official who was hiding/living in the building across from ours—our neighbors’ building, whom we know personally and love deeply.
for those familiar with the architectural format in Iran, apartment buildings typically have around 3–4 levels (tabaghes), with each family occupying its own level. the IRGC agent was reportedly on one of these levels, though it’s still unconfirmed whether he escaped or died. what’s devastating is that the innocent families living on levels 1 and 2 were killed. around 4–5 lives have been confirmed lost.
this is beyond traumatizing, and it is our family’s worst nightmare come to life. I feel very inclined to share photos of my neighborhood, my beautiful koocheh, and what it has always looked like. Green, lush and inviting…looking at the footage of what it looks like after the strikes is breaking every fiber of my heart.
what else is there to say except that my heart is with my people. My heart is with every life that is unjustly subjected to war. My heart is with my cousin, and eberyone else who has to wake up tomorrow morning and see their homes shattered.
send your sweet love, thoughts, and prayers to my Iran—our land. moments like this make it painfully clear how arbitrary these borders are. the earth does not belong to us—we belong to her. and when one part of the world is under attack, that harm transmutes through all of humanity, whether we choose to see it or not.
