Winter solstice became a reason to post this photo I took in Lyon at Niusha’s place this October. 

It speaks to a special sweet part of my practice. I found it while organizing my camera photos. I, myself, had a moment of glitch.
That tiny moment of my mind suspending in a thousand guesses and assumptions making multiple meanings at high speed makes me wanna make art, all the time.

Not gonna lie, I miss living by the solar calendar, it makes so much sense and kept me much more oriented through days and years, which is hard to ignore especially when Yalda, Nowrooz, and almost everything I celebrate are based on it..

This week, in one of my internet rabbit holes, I found my favourite painting of Judith and the Head of Holofernes by M. Zaman from 1680. I love how Judith looks like a laat badass brave iranian woman, how the maid is relieved, ready with a bag for the head and Holofernes has no body, how Zaman’s gaze on Judith and his illustration is so different than Caravaggio and of course I love the decoration, but my biggest love goes to the little sign that says Ya Saheb al Zaman, where he islamisized the Judith and the Head of Holofernes, may ask for her forgiveness by Allah while expressing his shock. The space that he draws between himself, me, god and the painting is so inspiring.

I end this post with my favourite poem of this week, a robaee by Abu Sa’id Abu’l-Khayr, who I find a lot of sonality in his poems. 

ما را نبود دلی که کار آید از او
جز ناله که هر دمی هزار آید از او
چندان گریم که کوچه‌ها گِل گردد
نِیْ روید و ناله‌های زار آید از او

I can’t get enough of the image of bamboos growing from tears on the alleys, turning it into reedbed and hearing the sound of their mourning. 

Yalda Mobarak.

P.S. I’m cooking something very close to my heart and I’m so excited about it. I put off lots of crafty projects easily, especially the bigger ones, but i dont wanna wait for a better time or resources I may have to make a book or build my house, at least as a model or in part, and I love making models. I wish I had 6 more hours every day.