Broken Ties, 2026

Broken Ties, 2026

Archival pigment composite print, ink, embroidery thread
Framed with cherry wood and Art Glass
Print Size 15x 20”
Framed Size 21.5 x 27”

One of my dearest friends gifted me a book of Etel Adnan’s poetry this year. I was captivated by the Lebanese American’s writing and painting. As I discovered more about her, I learned that for Adnan, the natural world is never neutral. For her, the mountains, the trees, the sun and the seas are witness (sometimes victim) to extreme human cruelty and yet remain a spiritual solace.

For me, nature has always been an escape and a comfort. This spring however, my awe and appreciation were marked by profound sadness. As I photographed the beauty of Vancouver’s burgeoning blossoms, my family in Lebanon was contending with war.

Broken Ties is an early study in a new body of work exploring my sense of a divide between life as experienced here and the one I would have experienced had we not immigrated to Canada; between the life I lead and the life of my family abroad; the rupture of my idealism; and, most of all, the expression of a split between my old self and where I find myself now.

This piece has been donated to Arts Umbrella for their Splash fundraiser in early October.