SlipStitch

An intimate scale with rigorous construction. While the exhibition includes paintings, sculptures, and digital elements, its primary strength is coherence; each component reinforcing the central inquiry. The experience is designed to be navigable and focused rather than overwhelming. It rewards time, attention, and repeat viewing.

For those living with distance, the exhibition offers a grounded point of contact. “Herbal Echoes” speaks to diaspora and displacement through the language of landscape and plant life. It does not rely on nostalgia; it builds a careful bridge between origin and present location. The work acknowledges that cultural connection can be sustained through study, care, and shared experience.

Botanical material is presented as cultural and ecological record. Herbarium scans, physical samples, and educational boards highlight Iran’s endemic flora with clarity and respect. The herbarium is not treated as a backdrop; it is positioned as evidence; of biodiversity, of scientific labor, and of what is at stake in conservation. Visitors are invited to see plants as both living organisms and carriers of heritage.

Scent and sound function as structure, not decoration. Ambient soundscapes and herbal essences are integrated to shape atmosphere and orientation. These elements are designed to support memory, deepen immersion, and create a coherent spatial experience. The exhibition becomes less a room of objects and more a constructed environment.

“Where are the bones?” becomes the question that won’t let go. Reem’s grandmother was buried in Beirut, not in Marjeyoun where she should have been laid to rest—and later, Reem is told the cemetery itself was destroyed in an air raid. No marker, no certainty, no place to return to. Living Bones confronts what it means to lose even the location of mourning, and what happens when war and time erase the physical evidence of a life.

A peace symbol. A garden’s flowers and leaves. A quiet, insistent message.
Inspired by drawings created during the summer of 2024, these serigraph prints pair the universally recognized peace symbol with delicate botanical imagery from the artist’s own garden—metaphors for the beauty, fragility, and transience inherent in peace and the natural world.

Touch is treated as a legitimate way of knowing. With dedicated haptic “Touch Me” surfaces and tactile components, the exhibition recognizes that learning is not only visual or textual. It invites embodied engagement while maintaining clear intention and care. This approach expands accessibility and honors the sensory intelligence of visitors.

It's happening this coming Sunday... Carve + Print Linocut Crash Course taught by Lauren Iida & Ranou Ye. Limited spots This coming Sunday! �Want to learn how to make your own custom lino prints? Join us for a Carve + Print Linocut Crash Course taught by amazing local artists Lauren Iida and Ranou Ye! All you will bring is a favorite photo and turn it into a beautiful, one-of-a-kind handmade print to take home. No art experience is needed! We provide all the guidance and step-by-step demos you need.

When: Sunday, Sept 13, from 12 PM – 4 PM
Where: SlipStitch Studio in Georgetown
Spots are strictly limited!
Grab your tickets today on the SlipStitch Event Page before they sell out!

A response to the present without claiming to resolve it. In a period when Iran is enduring profound hardship, “Herbal Echoes” offers a space for reflection rather than commentary. It holds grief, distance, and cultural memory without simplifying them. The exhibition asserts that attention; given to nature, to history, to friendship. It can be a form of resistance against erasure.

A legacy is at the center of the work. The project honors the artist’s late friend, a biologist who dedicated her life to documenting Iran’s endemic plants. That devotion—patient, meticulous, and often unseen—becomes the ethical foundation of the exhibition. “Herbal Echoes” is an act of translation: scientific care rendered into visual and sensory form.