This is a cut out I made which says “Even if the world ends tomorrow, today I shall plant a tree”. This is my own exaggerated take on calligraphy based from my handwriting in arabic. I plan to use this stencil on an exposed screen print, for collaging and as possible backgrounds for future works. I felt the phrase could be used with a number of concepts related to the refugees having to remain optimistic and resilient.

I plan to make more similar stencils, to use for spray painting onto the boxes to build up my collages. For the pieces below I used pieces of thin wood I cut up to drag paint across the paper to create an organic mark, similarly to a method of calligraphy which uses larger, flat and solid tools to write.

I also made beads and stamped letters into small pieces of clay to paint and add onto my collages/sculptures. I used English letters to write phrases or words in both Arabic and English. An aspect of my work that I enjoy; which is that not all can be understood and hopefully leave the viewer with a feeling of unease or curiosity.