Art Letters

The striking blue. The delicate movement. The strength of its metal. This vintage brooch recently caught me while visiting a Dallas textile show.

I couldn’t pinpoint it then, that this was a symbol of my late father. And my family. Of this time. Of transition and taking new form. Of flight and letting go. Of airiness and significant weight.

I wanted to spend more time with it.

I began drawing him on wood. I got to his tail. Interesting, I thought, how the artist depicted the tail moving inwards. Craving a feeling of expansiveness, I decided to flip its tail outwards. Next, observing the neck and beak - horizontal. What if his sights were set upwards instead?

I also noticed the bird was facing left. My favorite direction being up and to the right, my thought was to flip him horizontally to face right. Something stopped me as I realized my father’s native language, Farsi, is written right to left. He should face left.

As a child, my father often told me women and men are like the wings of a bird. You need both, in equality, to fly. The addition of purple feathers an inclusion of my presence. My signature color. My father and I flying together.

When considering what to name our new bird, I thought of my father’s name, Monir. I knew his name meant “light”, but decided to look it up and learn more. I discovered the word “lightsome” next to it, an unfamiliar word. Lightsome I learned, means airy, merry, free from care, light hearted. What I envision for his new chapter, and for ours.

LIGHTSOME
23 x 30 Acrylic and Resin on Wood Panel
The Miller Gallery

Thank you for personally connecting with me through this work. Wishing you airy light and flight.