Na’im on paper, on clay, on canvas, on walls, on apparel, on products, on websites, on refrigerators.

I was raised in Alaskan villages, surrounded by overwhelming natural beauty and the highly-graphic, symbolic art of the Tlingit and Haida people that wasn’t just put on walls, but decorated clothing, jewelry, buildings, and objects both valuable and quotidian. These strong influences of an artful life met with my lifelong journey of understanding my own ethnic heritage, particularly my Persian, Kurdish, and Parsi ancestry, which always left more questions than answers. To connect with my heritage, I attempt to allow the historical art of my ancestors to find modern and personal interpretation in my pen.

Some time ago, I reconnected with ceramics, an art form that hadn’t been on my radar for many years. Putting hands to clay was a way to connect not only with a faintly-remembered medium, but with one of the most ancient and tactile art forms belonging to all human ancestry. Whether functional or decorative (or somewhere in between), my pieces—ceramics, drawings, prints, clothing—stand not only on their own right as works of handmade art, but as symbolic offerings and representations of ancient art and a universally-shared human heritage.