Being called “girl” reminds her of when she was ten, her parents pitched a tent in the backyard for a sleepover. She and her cousins must have felt "kissy" that night because Josette, the oldest at twelve, gave them a lesson in French kissing, said it was like sucking the breath out of someone, so they sucked hard on the insides of their wrists, sucked until they bruised. Later when her mother asked what the marks were, she smiled. “Just a game we girls play.”
Read More3) Justice
Before the Belmont report when the U.S. Government gathered 600 Black men
who tilled Alabama’s blood stained terrain with their calloused hands, first generation
to grow up technically free, in the sense that
2) Do No Harm
My whole life I was told I should become a doctor, become a doctor for our people.
We do not trust doctors (unless they Black)
or the medical profession. And who are you to judge,
Marion Sims with his torture devices upon us
and our literal pain?
Whether this dance floor was deserted or crammed full to bursting or pulsing with just enough folks, chances are I was on it for hours, whirling fizgig, leaving only for sips of water, before plunging back to peacock strut and jigsaw-hips to bump-and-grind and frot and get funky with everyone and no one in particular.
Read MoreLong ago, I accepted the fragmentation of time zones and the strangeness of a phone call in which Tuesday can talk to Wednesday. Living in a different country from my parents, the time difference was just another border we always crossed without a second thought.
Read MoreI know how it looked. We had just buried my younger brother the day before, but just after five Saturday evening in late February, I zipped my fringed leather against the cold wind and rain and made the gloomy walk from my car to Mustang Salon.
Read MoreI was born in Ahwaz, Iran and moved to London, UK as a child. After graduating from Canterbury College of Art, I showed my work in London for ten years before moving to New York in 1998 to establish and co-found the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts and EFA Studios. I currently have a lifetime tenure at EFA Studios in New York, NY.
I chose two pieces of art to accompany my diptych, “Ghosts of Her Migration” because both reflect the sense of homesickness and displacement conveyed in this piece.
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