About Love + Salt:

Love + Salt is a public artwork in two parts: in-person art installation and a virtual platform. The in-person part is an installation of cement paintings at a public site, feature a visual narrative of my family’s immigration story from Baghdad. Images of landscapes, amulets, animals of the Baghdad region, people, interior scenes, Judeo-Iraqi holiday customs will make up the visuals. Using a combination of paint, cement and glitter these works will function as contemporary frescos.

These shards of memory will grow in a garden space. These pieces will be made in layers, with brilliant colors from the paint and mosaic patterns contrasting with the muted tones of the cement. The sculptural paintings will be close to the ground, the tallest, rising to 4 feet tall, emerging as fragments from a building or façade. The imagery will be culled from ephemera from my extended family.

Next to the cement paintings a QR code will link to the virtual part. As a means to accommodate the sense of sound, a hidden weatherproof audio source will softly whisper terms of affection. These whispers will orate terms of endearment collected from the virtual part of the project, and from my family’s own phrases of affection in Judeo Baghdadi Arabic.

On the Love + Salt website, guests will be invited to share their own commonly used terms for love and curses. This project will be open to communities in the Boston area and beyond. To make this project inclusive, the website will encourage guest to write their phrases in their native tongue. The website will be fully accessible, with a survey link for guests to share their favorite terms of love and insults.