Veils, 2002, 6 , 7 and 8 feet tall figures, Canvas duct and polymers over mixed media.

This has been my most challenging work.

The veil fascinates me. It has to be one of the most loaded images in the world today. It stands for religious, political, cultural, mystical, social and well as the obvious genderal differences. Yet its interpretation could not be more different. To most westerners, this female dress code is both depressing and terrifying; it seems to stand for everything a free society is against. Yet, when I once dared a female friend of mine (who very much harbored the above point of view) to try the veil, I was blown away by her response: She felt a strange sense of comfort, security, and peace. This surely is what many women find appealing about the cover. As a child growing up in Iran, I used to accompany my mother, grandmother and other female relatives as they visited the holy shrines around the country. I would find it a calm and amazing walk among these columns of anonymity.

The Project was originally concieved of as an outdoor installation. The 2002 annual exhibition of sculptures at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park coincided with the first year anniversary of the September 11 attacks. (with the waterfront park overlooking Lower Manhattan). So the show became a de-facto memorial as most artists like me addressed the tragedies of the previous year. However, I chose to address the reverberation of the events before and after that date. In particular, September 11 brought Islam to the forefront of the news, mostly as a pejorative destructive force. I chose the veil because it was the most prominent image of Islam in the western media, a manifestation that a particular place is under the islamic laws. Furthermore, this image is often used to show oppression of the female gender. While that is true in many cases, I felt it was an easy way out. Rather than try and understand the meaning of the veil, the west passes an instant judgemen on it. At the time of the installation, the military Campagne in Afghanistan had been ongoing for several months. I felt that the many people of that nation that had suffered wars, occupations, crack downs, etc. needed to be remembered as well. So I tried to create the work with as little heavy handed attempt at a premise as possible. The viewer is left to examine and question the emotions thatare stirred up by looking at these figures. (One individual looking from 500 ft away atop the Manhattan Bridge "mistook" the veils for potential Arab terrorists and had NYPD racing down to the site!-true story!)

The five figures relate to the five pillars of Islam which are the framework of the Muslim life: faith, prayer, concern for the needy, self-purification, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. The colors symbolize the main aspects of the Faith: green the official color of Islam, red the color of sacrifice, black the color of mourning, white the color of peace and afterlife, and blue the color of heaven often seen in Islamic architecture.