To say that I devote my entire time to art would not be a lie. I believe that you can live life as a form of art. How you communicate with people and how you establish a connection with our natural world is a form of art. From these experiences, I build a library of lines, colors, values, spaces, and textures that I internalize, thus externalizing my next art piece. The times in my life where I have balance feel the best for me and thus, I draw and analyze my feelings and process them into art pieces that have balance, utilizing movement, harmony while playing on the illusions of proportion. Our eyes see more of what we want to see and thus, we live our lives constantly out of proportion. Many of my abstract pieces live that way as well, out of proportion.  From looking at my art pieces, its not difficult to see things that I love, including Calligraphy, the Environment, Mythology, Native American Culture, Bedouins, and social justice. My experiences of wearing a scarf have played themselves out in real life and sneak their way into my art pieces. Like M.C. Escher who profoundly discovered his tessellation awakening when he went and saw the Great Mosques of Spain, my awakenings have been not only from adventures in Syria, but growing up here in America as a Muslim American Woman.

"A Native American Met a Bedouin," 16” x 20”, prismacolor pencils on bristol board. This piece is the first in a series that explores similarities and differences between Native Americans and people who lived off the land in Middle Eastern Countries, aka Bedouin. The symbolism between the two emblems is staggering, as it highlights the similarities between a North American Native Indian (top) and a Bedouin tribe (bottom). The red and black pattern block at the bottom is a common Bedouin style rug found in the Middle East, although could easily be taken for an American Indian pattern.

“An Ute Prayer,” 8” x 10”, prismacolor pencils on bristol board. This piece is the second in a series that explores similarities and differences between Native Americans and people who lived off the land in Middle Eastern Countries, A.K,A, Bedouin. The take-away message from this piece is that no matter what faith you practice, prayers can be heard in any language, and that oneness is the common denominating factor between all religions.

“Kohl: American Muslim Woman,” 8” x 10”, mixed media on bristol board. Drafted in 2006 as the front cover of an anthology that explores the voice of an American Muslim woman, “Kohl” is embedded with much symbolism. The fact that her scarf starts as an American flag and then turns into a scarf explains who she is. Her hand covering her mouth signifies that for many years, the media has spoken on her behalf, saying who she is and labeling her as “oppressed”. The fact that she has a pencil and paper shows that she is educated and now emerging to speak for herself. The henna on her hand embodies the marriage of two cultures, American and her own.