Informed by a strong sense of place and his multi-cultural identity (Iranian/Norwegian raised in rural Hawai’i), Kamran Samimi’s artistic practice centers on natural and indigenous ephemera — stones, wood, pigment, and land—as conduits to explore the intricate dynamics, tensions, and histories that exist between human and non-human ancestors.

 

Samimi contemplates the ways in which these interconnected relationships might engender moments of equilibrium, compassion and healing in a world marked by oppression, injustice, and widespread devastation. Specifically, Samimi draws inspiration from the direct, experiential focus on Nature also found in Zen Buddhism and Sufi Mysticism. As a testament to this philosophy, as well as a formal artistic proposition, his approach is both reverent and whimsical, mirroring Nature’s gestures: deconstructing and reforming with intention and compassion.