After my passport was stamped with “Denied” when I tried to take a flight to Canada in 2017 to
attend a show where I was exhibiting, I added those airport stamps to my portraits.

As the war in Yemen — which the United Nations has called the worst humanitarian crisis in the
world — my family doesn’t feel accepted anywhere, and going home is not an option.

“I feel like we are living in a big prison. You keep thinking about the future. What will it look
like in ten years?”

“Trumperie” is a self portrait in various figures in passport style photographs.
The photographs become digital prints as I impose denial stamps, and later become questions of
identity as the figures are challenged to find balance between an oppressive past and a “ free”
present. This series describes an immigrant experience to inspire deeper inquiry to the multi_faceted
impacts that socio- political voices have on immigrants; provide a means to critically assess
one’s own perspectives about formidable human experience.
By positioning myself as center focus in the “Trumperie” series I aim to bring both personal and
political perspectives which illuminates my experience becoming an immigrant in the U.S.