Artist Statement:

My work explores the complex terrain of identity shaped by disconnection, memory, and cultural inheritance. As a second-generation Moroccan and third-generation Sicilian woman, I navigate the gaps and silences in my heritage—those spaces where knowledge is fragmented or obscured. These absences are not voids but active sites of inquiry, reflection, and expression.

Through small, intimate acrylic paintings on canvas, I engage with Mediterranean iconography as a way to reclaim and reimagine my cultural lineage. The vibrant colours and expressive, pop-art inspired style embody the vitality of these roots, while the glitch-like distortions and imperfect lines mirror the fractured, often elusive nature of my understanding of self.

My paintings are an attempt to visualise the fragmented inheritance I carry. The glitches disrupt the visual narrative, just as the gaps in my heritage disrupt the story I tell about who I am. This tension between presence and absence, clarity and distortion, invites viewers to consider their own experiences of cultural belonging and the many ways identity is formed through what is preserved, lost, or transformed.

In dialogue with the broader themes of Echoes of Home, my work positions home not only as a place of origin but as a layered experience—felt through memory, history, and identity. It is an ongoing negotiation between what is inherited and what is imagined, a vibrant, imperfect mosaic of selfhood.