TAKE CARE OF YOUR SELF reflects on identity, culture, grief, and loss. I started on this body of work with the plan to devote energy, time, and intention to exploring my personal and cultural identity as a transgender first-generation Iranian American, an intersection of my identity I previously had neglected to honor. My cultural identity has been further complicated by the negative associations I have with certain aspects of my culture as a result of growing up with an abusive father who was my primary connection to my culture. For a long time, the way I dealt with this complex part of my identity was by simply not thinking about it. This semester (Spring 2023), through creative practice, I faced my cultural identity head on, making space for all the (at times difficult) feelings and memories attached to it.

After grappling with cancer for about a year, on March 13, 2023, my grandmother Azi passed away peacefully in the company of two of her sons and her husband. We knew it was coming, but still it shook me deeply. Much of my creative work this semester has been informed by this loss. I began to work with objects she’d passed down to me: a scarf she gave me the last time I saw her, a dress she sewed and two knitted articles of clothing she made for me when I was a kid. These materials are incorporated into multiple parts of TAKE CARE OF YOUR SELF, and this installation would not have been possible without them. I thought of Azi frequently as I worked on these pieces. Her memory guided and comforted me as I sifted through my many ideas, thoughts, feelings, and memories, and eventually led me to this final product. This project is as much about her, her impact on my life, and my memories of her as it is about my own identity. I am so grateful for everything she has done for me. Even when I can no longer hear her voice or hold her hand, she continues to inspire and motivate me to fulfill my final promise to her: to take care of myself.