Kymia Nawabi

919-225-6095

Surviving thus far as the “other,” as I am a first generation Iranian-American, I have created a mythology that is based on my biography concerning my battle I won with Social Anxiety Disorder, initially stemming from existing within a bicultural world.

Observing and logging others, as well as my own, behaviors and appearances, I have become somewhat of an ethologist (the study of relations between an organism and its environment) of our human abject experiences. The pieces portray the origin of abnormal physical and psychological states, out of the interplay of conscious psychological forces from occurrences from our daily internal fantasy lives during what most think to categorize as everyday events such as a handshake or even sex. Fantasy- referring to our innards very real and deep felt world.

Sensations and delusions from societal interactions at different stages of growth create my cast of characters quarks and downfalls, as well as the panorama and its operations. With every scenario I introduce another cast of psychic doppelgangers, scabbing together their personalities from a curious stock of psychoanalytic readings, childhood humiliations, and self-deprecating humor. The works are initially understood as playful, cute and humorous, but upon closer observation they reveal true terror and discomfort. Through my allegory of human behavior the viewer is given another realm of reality through my perceptions of what is irrefutable that is often felt but not seen. Thus, through the lens of my own experiences, I direct the viewers’ visions to the complex, deep-level, make-up of who we are, and make us dwell on the abject nature of being human.