Bee Miner
2023
copper wire, copper beads, glass beads
7 x 15-¾ x 24-½ inches (H W D)
The Artists Garden, Harlem (2023), Gallery Particulier, Brooklyn (2025)
This mining bee sculpture reflects several personal identity facets: these include daily work over the last nine years as a public horticulturist in Brooklyn, my Yemenite Jewish ethnicity, and affinity and solidarity with other Arab ethnic groups.
The Eastern Miner Bee (Calliopsis andreniformis) pollinates an NYC native shrub (Serviceberry - Amelanchier spp.) and is a connection to the natural environments I've experienced most as a gardener, as well as to my research of plant-animal interactions. Body surfaces and parts are assembled through a copper-wire bending technique inspired by the rich legacy of silversmith work of my Yemenite grandfather and earlier ancestors. As an extension of my Arab ethnicity, I immerse myself in studying the Arabic language, history, and culture, and I oppose the systemic oppression, dispossession, and colonization of Palestinians and other Arab ethnic groups.
Wounded Child No Surviving Family
2025-2026
Reused styrofoam
28 x 43 x 24 inches (H W D)
Materials for the Arts , NYC
A single styrofoam block carved after the medical acronym for Palestinian wounded children separated from their families in the Israel-Gaza-Hamas Genocide-War.
The sculpture is analogous to monuments and tombs to unknown soldiers. Stark white evokes large groups in white body bags and reminiscent of sterile medical and morgue spaces and equipment. Letters are arranged to reference rubble mounds. Carved out spaces allude to guerrilla warfare tunnel networks.