2022- Ongoing | URN (Age of Aquarius)
Over the past four years, I have come to see myself as a vessel.
For more than twelve years, I longed to be reunited with my mother, who had immigrated to America. When we finally met again, I understood that no reunion can recover lost time. The emptiness remained, and I was forced to confront the present rather than the past.
Through this experience, I began to understand migration differently. Distance was no longer only between my mother and me , it existed between myself and my father, friends, language, memories, and the familiar ground of my country. Migration creates invisible spaces within us.
As I met more immigrants, particularly Iranians living in America, I recognized a shared condition. Whether forced or chosen, migration often leaves people carrying absences that cannot easily be filled. I began to see all of us as vessels, moving through the world in search of connection.
This became the foundation of my ongoing drawing series. What began as references to artworks I had encountered in museums gradually became an investigation into people themselves, how they communicate, how they reach toward one another, and what passes between them.
Although my painting practice is colorful and layered, these drawings are stripped to line. Through their simplicity, I try to express what is difficult to put into words: the quiet rituals of daily life, the small gestures through which people reveal themselves.
Migration taught me to look beyond appearances. Different bodies, languages, and histories often conceal something profoundly shared , a common desire to connect, to be understood, to give and receive love. What moves between people is not only language but also memory, longing, care, and recognition.
In these drawings, I explore that movement. I see people not as isolated individuals, but as vessels carrying both emptiness and possibility, continuously reaching toward one another.
Becoming the Vessel, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) , Pietà for Vittoria Colonna, c. 1540
Grief, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Andrea Mantegna (ca. 1431–1506), Study for Pietà (verso), ca. 1460
The Circle of Pain, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Pietà for Vittoria Colonna, c. 1540
The Vesselers, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Marcantonio Raimondi (ca. 1480–ca. 1534), The Lovers (after Raphael), ca. 1517–1520
The Warmest Hug, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Polidoro da Caravaggio (ca. 1499–1543), Virgin and Child with Angels, ca. 1520s–1530s
Love at the Side, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), aVirgin and Child on a Grassy Bench, c. 1500
In Search of Ascension, Digital Drawing (Procreate), William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), The Ascension of Christ, 1879
Beyond Blessing, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Blessed Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus and Saints, Byzantine/Orthodox tradition
The Lady with the Vessel of Love, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Lady with an Ermine, ca. 1489–1490
Convessleation, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483–1520), Study of the Virgin and Child with St. Elizabeth and the Infant St. John, c. 1507–1508
Vessel and Child, Circle of Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Virgin and Child, early 16th century
It’s Too Late, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Italian School (16th century), Pietà (Study Drawing), ca. 1500s
Hidden Bonds, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Byzantine School, Virgin and Child Enthroned with Angels, ca. 12th–15th century
Holy Illusion, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441), The Annunciation, 1434–1436
Family, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Michelangelo Buonarroti, Doni Tondo (Holy Family), c. 1506–1508
Devotion, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), Crucifixion, ca. 1538–1541
In the Shadow of Love, Digital Drawing (Procreate), ,Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434
Raising Hands, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Saint Anne with the Virgin and Child, ca. 1500
Touching the Heart, Digital Drawing (Procreate), Raphael (1483–1520), Madonna and Child (study), ca. 1509–1511
Embrace of Sadness, Digital Drawing (Procreate), , Italian School (16th century), Study for a Pietà, ca. 1500s
Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510)
Primavera (detail: The Three Graces), ca. 1482
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
Crucifixion, c. 1538–1541
Follower of Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio, 1483–1520)
Virgin and Child with Angels
Michelangelo Buonarroti
Doni Tondo (Holy Family), c. 1506–1508
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905)
The Ascension of Christ, 1879
Byzantine School
Virgin Orans (Theotokos, “Our Lady of the Sign”), ca. 12th–15th century
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) The Apocalypse:
The Seven Angels with the Trumpets, 1498
Circle of Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
Virgin and Child, early 16th century
