About the Exhibit
The Cigarette Box Project is my way of transforming discarded cigarette boxes into miniature landscapes rich with history and meaning. Although I have never smoked, I have long been fascinated by cigarettes, their ritualistic nature, their slow destruction of the body, and the intimate culture that surrounds them. Many of my loved ones were smokers, and I found comfort in the routine. Whether sitting alongside my father, grandmother, coworkers, or friends, I often observed the quiet moments of reflection that smoking provided. I began collecting empty cigarette boxes, USA Light 100’s, Marlboro Red and Black, Newport Menthol, and, most notably, Seneca Silver 100’s, from anyone willing to give me their trash. The Seneca Silver 100’s became the most significant part of the collection, with over 600 boxes gathered since 2022, all from my grandfather-in-law. The decision to paint western desert landscapes on these boxes was inspired by the Seneca Silver 100’s packaging itself. The design, an understated monochromatic mountain lakeside, appeared to me as a kind of miniature world, a space waiting to be filled. Each box was sealed with remnants of its past use inside, then coated with gesso, preparing the surface for oil paintings of desert landscapes. The desert holds deep personal significance for me. My father, an archetypal cowboy, spent much of his life on horseback, traveling through the great American deserts. My mother, an Assyrian woman from Iraq, was raised in the Middle Eastern desert. Though my family settled in Fresno, California, in a suburban neighborhood with modern comforts, our household was shaped by a survivalist mentality. Water was precious, food was stockpiled, and an ever-present sense of unease lingered as if a disaster were always imminent. I came to associate the desert not only with resilience but also with an underlying sense of fear, a psychological landscape as much as a physical one. Beyond my personal history, my choice to paint the western deserts of America carries a broader awareness. The land I inhabit is stolen land. Seneca is a Native American-owned cigarette brand, a name that serves as a reminder of historical loss. Since the arrival of settlers, tribal nations have lost nearly 99% of their land through forced migration, treaty violations, theft, and devastating government policies designed to dismantle Native sovereignty and culture. With this in mind, I have painted hundreds of desert scenes from the Great Basin, Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan deserts. Over time, the process has become instinctive causing more than 80% of the paintings to be imagined dreamscapes, places that do not exist yet feel real, seamlessly blending into the visual language of the desert. Through The Cigarette Box Project, I reclaim discarded objects, transforming them into spaces of memory, history, and quiet reflection, where the personal and political, the intimate and the vast, converge.
