Amethyst

Artist Statement:

Time… time… time…

Time… my greatest treasure in this life and your greatest weapon against me. It has been a decade since my attempt to fly, to flourish, and your ruthless plan to degrade me. For the last ten years my soul has been the target of your hatred. Each year was a poisoned spear passing through my soul. But my patience and love are ancient. It can transform your spear as it etches my wounds, my purple pain, into a stunning amethyst. It reverses all your attempts to destroy me and my identity, then leads me to a place where I meet the truth about myself. I am Iranian and our long history has taught us resistance in the face of cruelty and hatred.

I am an Iranian woman. We are the weavers of the precious rugs from Toranj and Baharestan, among the oldest masterpieces of art on earth, thousands of years old. Oppressors come and go. Decades and centuries of shame or glory will pass. The greatest powers on earth all disappear. But it is us, again, women, the spinners of the spinning wheel. Unbreakable alchemists.