ARTWORKS
![The Garden of Desires 1](https://iterarte.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/7f9b052d-d625-4e50-b648-fef0ed096509-l.jpg)
Marwan Sahmarani
NIDHI KHURANA
In this episode during a visit to his Beirut studio, Marwan Sahmarani discusses with Founder Tamara Chalabi his artistic practice; what and who inspires him; […]
My name is Nuveen… some people call me Nuvs. When I order coffee it’s Nova.
Thankful.
Iprax (dolma)… I love to make them just as much as I like to eat them… It is definitely not a dish you make for one, it’s very communal!
That is a hard one. Coffee!
Tokyo, Japan.
The Color of Pomegranates by Sergei Parajanov.
“It is what it is”.
Beri Shalmashi (screenwriter/director), Marlos E’van (artist), Sayran.
Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller initiated an extensive public art collection beneath the empire state plaza, and they have a tulip festival every year and the whole city is full of tulips.
You do not have to treat everything you make so preciously. It is ok to make mistakes and not know everything. Trust the process.
Talk to your artist friends.
Pink.
Sewing machine.
Messy.
I am still on that journey trying to find out.
Maybe the most exciting and challenging thing about being an artist is not knowing what’s going to happen next.
I did a video piece with my good friend and colleague Marlos E’van where they shot me dragging a very heavy rug across a parking lot and campus. People walking by were noticing that I was struggling a lot. People around us were just really confused about why my friend wasn’t helping me or why they were recording this process.
Nobody gives me funny criticism because they are too scared of “offending my culture”. (Which I think is kind of funny).
Layered, bold, multifaceted.
It’s an ongoing achievement to be able to make art every day. A lot of what I do and make is for a younger generation of not only Kurdish Americans but other members of diasporic communities to possibly help make sense of this “in-between space” that we exist in.
I would love to collaborate with Kurdish singers Mihemmed Shekho, Eyaz Yusif, Tahsin Taha, Ayse Shan, and so many more influential Kurdish artists that are not with us anymore. I would have loved to create album art for them. Their music has such a huge impact on my work.
I have a couple of places in mind, but I have been thinking a lot about the Dallas Museum of Art. I had one of my first art museum experiences there.
I believe this playlist accurately reflects my visual style, incorporating music that serves as inspiration and a blend of both cultural influences.