@mary.antart
“The process of immigration was a constant conversation throughout my life.”
Aerial
watercolor on paper, 4″ x 6″
An abstract of an aerial perspective. I used to wave to planes with my dad as a kid, just in case my cousins from Lebanon were actually visiting! I always looked up, and though I was waving, I always imagined the plane’s perspective. The world, sprawling in different colors, textures, sizes, mysterious, and then gone.
Afters
watercolor on paper, 4″ x 6″
is a reflection on the paths chosen. yearning for the paths to be weaving together, fearing that they are an unraveling.
Airport
watercolor on paper, 4″ x 6″
is an attempt to capture a common dreamscape of mine. Airports and hallways, revolving doors, schools of people, schools of fish.
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My mother’s side is from Syria, my fathers side from Lebanon; both are Assyrian. Both sides of my family immigrated to this country to escape persecution.
I grew up surrounded by family. My dad’s parents lived with us. Over the years, his four siblings and sometimes their families lived with us for however long the immigration process was – as long as they needed to get their bearings, to move into their own homes. The process of immigration was a constant conversation throughout my life. Family and community always feel large and loud, filling every house, church, airport, waiting room, often becoming its own universe.
I was much closer to tradition growing up. So much of my relationship with home is finding the balance between my home, home. My parent’s home, home.
When do you feel the pull between your present life and your roots the strongest, and how do you reconcile those competing feelings?
I feel the pull in varying aspects of my life. Some are more obvious, like food. Others are more subtle, like certain quirks in daily routines – a learned syncopation to life’s rhythms.
My hope is centered around art. As for dreams, I’m still figuring those out.