Personal Statement: I was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and raised in the small rural town of Pullman, Washington, USA. My bi-cultural upbringing allows me to explore the intersection of my Afghan heritage and American upbringing as both a native and an outsider of each. Though the United States and Afghanistan have many differences, one thing remains constant: I am a woman in both spaces. I am interested in the way these two cultures define women (and me) in different and similar ways. The artistic process serves as a confessional for me, where my inner conversations become public. It allows me to negotiate the space between “Afghan” and “American” and to express myself independent of cultural definitions and constraints.