Made in USA, صنع في أمريكا
A visual self portrait series exploring the complexity of what is made, grown, cultivated and nourished in these lands. Through a reimagined red, white, and blue color palette, it explores personal experiences growing up as an Arab, Lebanese and Muslim American in a “melting pot” of assimilation, discrimination, orientalism, and dominating negative stereotypes perpetuated by art, politics and the media. It reimagines what it means to “make yourself”, make home, using vintage, upcycled, and nostalgic domestic garments, textiles, objects, and pop culture references from both SWANA (South West Asian and North Africa/Middle East) and American heritage and cultures. Connecting and reflecting on the foundations of a nation created through Indigenous genocide, Black enslavement, imperialism, and white supremacy, what will we continue to nurture and plant here? What will the future of all things made in the USA be? Do we have the courage to transform, to change, to stitch a new tapestry of collective liberation?