Becoming a Stranger. Video installation. 8’ x 8’ x 4.5’. 2025
Stuart Hall defines identity as a "process of becoming" rather than a fixed state. He emphasizes that identity is not an inherent or stable entity, but rather a dynamic and ongoing construction shaped by social, cultural, and historical forces. This "becoming" involves continuous shifts in identification and positioning, rather than a singular, completed state of being.
“Becoming a Stranger” is a video installation that stands like a monolith in the middle of a darkened room. The video loop displays a slightly larger than human scale silhouette of a faceless, genderless, raceless figure that moves in and out of frame and focus. The moving image is accompanied by the ambient sounds of a transit station mixed with the recitation of the poem “On Talking,” by Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran, in both English and Arabic.
This is not a Cookbook. Handmade book. Archival family photos and recipes. 2023
This is not a Cookbook is a collection of the family recipes I grew up eating. Some of the recipes were taught to me by my mother, my Appalachian born Grandma and my Lebanese. This cookbook blends those recipes with personal and political history to create my own hybrid Appalachian/Arab cookbook with hand notated changes and updates.
