Immigrant Blues #4-5
Paper
2021—03
Houston, TX




Mixed Media on Paper
56x76 cm | 22x30 in


Created as a reflection on the year 2020, IMMIGRANT BLUES #4 and #5 deal with the realities of living with a global pandemic. #4, subtitled “Hakeem” comments on the politicization of debates surrounding healthcare in America. The Arabic workd in the dialogue balloon translates to “wiseman” accompanied by an asterix that leads to a footnote reading “or wisewoman”, a far cry from the reality we live in today where the opinions of medical professionals are called into question, even amidst a fast-spreading, potentially lethal virus.

IMMIGRANT BLUES #5: Woshoosh (below left), portrays a longing for human faces after a whole year of seldom seeing any, with our idea of faced increasingly relying on those we see in media or based entirely on memory (as depicted by the background). The text in the dialogue balloon roughly translates to: “I swear I’ve forgotten what people’s faces look like.”

Both peices were commissioned by the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan for its permanent collection.