Saruye S

01 Tongue-tie

This installation combines framed paintings and drawings with a painted, hand-marked wall surface. Each framed artwork is mounted approximately four inches away from the canvas, creating a physical gap that allows glimpses of the background through and around the frames. The wall is layered with gestural brushstrokes, handprints, sketches, and handwritten Farsi text, partially obscured by the artworks yet revealed when viewed from different angles. Together, the elements blend detailed imagery with expressive mark-making, inviting a shifting experience as the viewer moves through the space.

“Merging Persian miniature with Western representational painting, I explore the tension of my diasporic experience. Detailed miniature works contrast with raw, gestural wall markings, creating a dialogue between control and release. The wall holds my physical presence, turning mark-making into self-portraiture. From different distances, the work shifts. What appears as text up close may dissolve into abstraction, inviting gradual discovery, like the layered process of understanding identity.”