Artist Statement

Faraz Ghorbanpour’s works discuss growth through confronting the past. Many people are attached to their identity, and are complacent with who they’ve settled to be. With wood as the medium, carvings juxtapose wood burnings, meeting each other to create an image of understanding one’s past. Traditional art methods combine with new, yet rarely used, technology to build a positive change within the woodworks. Styles traditionally associated with crafts replicate the narratives we must go through to evolve into our next state of being. Mixing these techniques with other media, different memories and ideas we experience are shown to the viewer, forcing incidences of the past and the present to converge. Between reflections of our histories and hopes for those futures, the artworks push for self-exploration to change for the better. Our identities define us, but by discovering why we are who we are is the best way to move forward.