Haley Darya Parsa works in a variety of mediums, investigating the ways in which images, objects, and rituals embedded in personal histories can relate to a larger cultural context. Having grown up in Texas as Iranian-American, she places her family and heritage under a meditative lens, reflecting on ideas of distance, separation, memorialization, and connection. Her work is both sentimental and critical, exploring how we read, identify, and value objects.
She examines the power of things, from daily items to family heirlooms, all grounded in textiles. Pulling from what is close and far, she pieces together a love letter. She pulls inspiration from Persian rugs in form, design, motifs, poetry, and in ritual–the repetition of hand-knotting and tradition of their everyday use–with each brushmark becoming a hand-stitched thread.
