Artist Statement

Faraz Ghorbanpour’s works tell the story of how one navigates through a repeating history of whiteness and capitalism towards personal independence. Throughout his life, he existed in predominantly white and exclusionary spaces. Upon experiencing the realities of social structures in Western and Christian cultures, art became the escape from socially enforced normality in daily life. Values of perfection within individualism and becoming the “ideal person in the eyes of God” permeates throughout his life. He sees these as weapons used to harm those unable and unwilling to conform. Using a history of sculpting to cut traditionally European motifs into wood, and juxtaposing them with figures drawn by woodburning and with forms of mixed media. Non-standard techniques juxtapose historic symbols to highlight differences in existence. Challenging social structures, creating an “other”, artificial scarcities, and over-prioritization of stability, the artist confronts the norms we find ourselves in to become our truest self.