The Oddities of Marbling Garden series, Saffron, Amnesia, 2022

Marbling, watercolor, and gold paint on BFK Rives paper, 30" x 22", Framed

Courtesy of the artist

Saffron, Amnesia, shows saffron crocus flowers, after the flower images in Mattioli's 16th c. botanical book, on a hand-made marbled landscape. A word written in Persian says, Faramoushi (Amnesia), which refers to saffron healing properties; consumption of saffron spice improves the cognitive abilities of patients with Alzameri's disease.

Marbled papers decorated manuscripts and books, throughout the history of book-making. Marbling-a plant-based printing method from late medieval Iran-uses natural pigments, solution, and oil. As a printmaker, I have found this old technique as a new "territory" to portray nature from historic, medicinal, visual, and cultural angles in diverse contexts in my work.

In creating my prints I will treat the patterns as less conventional to allow room for content and additional visual elements. The patterns suggest turmoil and fragmented landscapes alongside the hand-written healing properties of plants in Persian, which have double meanings and cultural connotations.The name of the series is inspired by the 13th c. manuscript, The Wonders of Creation and the Oddities of Existence (Ajayeb al-Makhluqat va Gharayeb al-Mowjudat) written by Qazwini, the celebrated medieval geographer and natural historian.