My work interrogates the role Western media plays in constructing cultural narratives, while centering a caring and concerning lens on the destruction of Syria and its people through large-scale paintings. The works start from a personal place. Iraq is my father’s country and Syria is my mother’s, as well as the second home of my youth. It is where my aunts, uncles, and cousins were living. It is where there are buildings I slept in and streets where I played tag and other games as a child.

I’ve witnessed the years of destruction of my countries from US invasion with very little regard from Western mainstream media to civilian casualties. The intent is to make visible what happens to civilians by placing them within larger context of cultural significance through the use of Arab design elements. I entrap these Middle Eastern landscapes and families in Arab mosaic patterns, not as a backdrop, but as a culture of people trying to hold up their structured environment as best as they can with little to no help from others.