From the very beginning, mountains, rocks, and stones—in all their diverse forms and shapes have been a constant source of inspiration for my work. I use them as metaphors, visual forms that convey my ideas about and associations with political, social, and cultural topics as well as issues of identity. These are the themes that concern me and that have shaped and influenced my art and my life.

I executed this series of large-scale paintings on unstretched canvases over the past three years. Imagined mountains, designed in semi-conical shapes and detached from their natural surroundings, are placed in the centre of the vast canvas as the dominant focal point. The composition alludes to a bare landscape of simple shapes, objects that have been pared down to their very essence. The nature of these mountains/monuments has been transformed, their purposes reshaped and redefined. They now possess different characteristics and properties that allow me to be use them as a means of visual communication and expression.

In my last two paintings, titled ‘Portrait of a Mountain, 1 & 2, 2009’, a segment of a mountain is redesigned and reconstructed like a two-dimensional sculpture. Sometimes it takes the shape of a pyramid, or a tent, or a primitive hut. Each shape as habitual space, refuge, or pure symbol conveys a different meaning. In spite of its monumental physicality, the mountain is still a transparent, unspoiled, clear form, revealing hidden structures, patterns, and lines that bring new perspectives and enhance perception.

Memory, and the deep visual observation that accompanies it, plays an essential role in enabling me to see these objects in a new light, to attain insight and knowledge into their intricate structure. This has a powerful, long-lasting effect on each work. Looking at and remembering these objects gives me a clearer overview, from which the essential shapes take on new meanings. The process is a metaphor for life itself, moving from the violence of birth to the struggle for existence to the final monumental formation. And it leads me each time to the possibility of another line of visual enquiry, one that helps me form a clearer understanding of both my surroundings and my history.