Statement: 

For many of us, life is always defined through a series of endless migrations. We constantly seek a "there", one on which the nature of our 'being' and our life depend. "There" is always delayed. It will always maintain in its unattainable nature; for every migrant, "there" only finds meaning in the essence of the 'home' and the homeland. But with the first migration, 'home' becomes a mirage the migrant can never reach. It lingers, deferred to a later time, hoping to be found in the next destination. Life is constantly unstable and impatient, searching for a new destination. A departure that merely seeks to 'leave'. My visual experiences bear a narrative of 'war, migration, restlessness to be "there", and an ultimate return'. This is a return that will never be complete, for migration means the loss of bonds, the loss of a home that will never be built elsewhere, not even where it originally was. No home can ever be found again. Beyond wars and blind obligations, everything is buried under the sands of time. We forget. We forget all that we were; homes lost through war, humans forgotten, common notions left behind.

Ali Jahangard – June 2022