It had its beginnings in the Achaemenid Empire in 6th century BCE in the Pars region of central Iran, from which the language took its name. A member of the great Indo-European language stock, Persian shares similar sounds, word forms, and even some grammar with Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit. In both its written and spoken forms Persian has been a language of literary expression for 2,500 years. It h
as endured numerous encounters with other cultures and languages including Turkish, Arabic, English, French, and German—exchanging words, literary forms, and cultural concepts with all of them. Despite its evolution through the millennia, Persian has always been a language of great flexibility and powerful literary expression. The artistic, musical, and humanistic culture of Persia and Iran are seen in Persian literature and calligraphy. As with many world cultures the Persian language is the chief source for the expression of Iranian national and cultural identity at home and in diaspora. Iranian literary writers and artists have historically emphasized Persian as the mirror of identity for illuminating broader Iranian cultural spheres. My native Persian language is my means of communication with my family and Iranian friends, of preserving my cultural identity, and a vehicle of visual art expression. Raised with the knowledge of a great classical language, I learned the rich and fascinating cultural sphere of Persian poetry, especially the aesthetic and philosophical wisdom of Sufi mysticism. The classical Persian poets Hafez, Rumi, and Khayyam expressed that wisdom with clarity and beauty. Sohrab Sepheri, brings the language and literary traditions of his predecessors to his modern contemplations of art and existence in today’s world. In the Persian language—best expressed in its Arabic-based calligraphy—a word is composed by linking successive sounds and syllables to a root word. A word, phrase, or line of poetry achieves a wholeness of thought and appearance different from most other Indo-European and romance languages. The word, phrase, or verse is a picture of wholeness as well as a fully-formed thought. The Persian language complements visually Eastern philosophical concepts of organic, cosmic laws and humankind’s place in nature. In my artwork I use the shapes and meanings of my Persian language to envision a cultural world of cross bordering and boundaries, a travel between my American and Iranian identities. My paintings search into this complex world of language, aesthetic shapes, and identity. I then represent my searches through the shapes of Persian language, making discoveries that dance in forms and colors. Grounded in my native language and culture, I shape and reshape my identity as an Iranian-American woman—flexible and hybrid—a mother, wife, friend, sister, and a painter and visual artist. I use language in symbolic and verbal forms to represent my search for an individual and artistic worldview built from the fragmented cultural experiment called life in America. In my paintings I sometimes position letters in successions that do not form words. At other times I depict free, circular, and fluid letters in forms that give birth to a few meaningful words. Sometimes letters and words take a primary position in the foreground; in others they are background that give life to more pressing elements such as color, light, water, and darkness. In many of my paintings they form patterns, like a Persian carpet, that invite viewers to explore multiple layers of experiences woven together to offer partial and whole meanings. I challenge viewers to find within my works the independent life and spirit of successive parts as they also grasp for the whole. My paintings are an invitation to discover and celebrate with me both familiar images and small unknown worlds. My invitation is one that Sohrab Sepehri offers in a poem:
It does not matter where I am. Windows, ideas, air, love, earth, all mine.
