Barzakh
Barzakh is a space of suspension, a liminal state where the soul exists between worlds, awaiting judgment. In Islamic teachings, it is a place of neither resolution nor release, where punishment lingers endlessly.
As a child in Iran, I first encountered the concept of Barzakh in a religious story: a woman hanging by her hair in purgatory, punished for revealing it. The story did not frighten me but left me with questions that echo to this day. What would that feel like? How long could the body endure such pain? In a place where time stretches infinitely, what happens when the body gives way?
This series transforms a childhood memory into a psychological exploration of tension and permanence. Barzakh is not a place of closure but one of suspension, where the body is held, and the mind confronts the weight of endless questions.
In Barzakh, there is no escape—only the quiet weight of an unresolved in-between.
Digital photographs 2017
When The Clouds Cry
During a residency at the Sun Peaks Center for the Arts and Sustainability in Colorado Springs, I adopted a piece of land I thought needed care. I began pulling weeds, but the act quickly felt violent, forcing me to question why I equated nurturing with control. This tension between intervention and acceptance became central to my process, as I sought gentler ways to honor the land and myself.
Cradling my long hair—a symbol of love, care, and self-nurture—I walked the land, reciting a Persian poem by Omar Khayyam:
“A cloudburst came, pouring tears upon the green.
This green is ours to enjoy today;
Who knows what follows when we are gone,
Lost in the midst of our dust.”