Bloom Where You Hold Me

Flowers recur as symbols of fragile yet enduring bonds, growing where they can and insisting on care and connection. Collaged layers stitched with needles form delicate networks where closeness can wound and heal at
once, embodying the tension between vulnerability and resilience. It is in the refusal to let connections fade, in the insistence on caring when it feels impossible, and in sustaining relationships even when it is difficult. Each drawing fights to hold onto what matters, demanding that love, attention, and community survive and push back, even in moments of doubt, fragility, or isolation.The drawings, made in collaboration with Tirdad’s partner for the show, hold moments of intimacy, solidarity, and quiet power, revealing how life and love continue even when the world feels unwelcoming, and how relationships themselves can become acts of hope.

Artwork details:
Tirdad Hashemi and Soufia Erfanian
I was never meant for so much quiet, a cactus grows in solitude, and so do I. Yet here I am, growing where no one stays, 2024
Oil pastel, graphite pencil, and collage on paper
74.5 x 55 cm

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