ALAN ABDULKADER was born in Kurdistan. At the age of eight, his family left the homeland and chased a dream that was many Kurd’s dreams—to live in peace. After many attempts and crossing many borders from neighboring regimes, Alan and his family were able to settle in a refugee camp in Syria for about seven years before coming to the United States, a new world of both dreams and struggles. A new start is both hardship and potential for a new identity and an opportunity for who one wishes to be. Of course, one cannot simply escape the past, but one can see how the past can lead forward.

Since arriving in the United States, Alan has started a new journey into the world that is often referred to as creative such as art, architecture, and writing, an exploration of the text as a form of expression, and a search for the unknowns. Coming from a background steeped in political uncertainty and turmoil has impacted his visual making and writings. Those moments have become visible in his art, writing, and part of his architecture; he regenerated the atrocities of the city of Halabja, and the political border of Kurdistan with his thesis.

His areas of study lie between art, architecture, and writing. Practice architecture in Seattle and teaches design and silver gelatin photography courses and working towards a new architecture fundamental class as part of Green River College Fine Arts curriculum. Being caught between the world of making and exploring is a unique experience that has allowed him to imagine the unimaginative within his work. The cognitive mind is not a linear path but a journey into an unknown voyage.

ARTIST STATEMENT

How do our bodies touch the air and fuses into our surroundings? What do we leave behind as our body deteriorates and as we leave living? The body’s Memory is in search of the memories and the identity of the memories that our body leaves behind. It is an integral part of our lives and shapes who we are, yet we often think of memory as the things of the past with no relevance to presence. The search for the Body's Memory in space is an exploration of how our bodies interact with our surroundings and how we leave traces of ourselves in the environment. Not only on physical or visible objects and surfaces but on the invisible and the mind space as well. These traces can be physical, such as footprints or fingerprints, or they can be more intangible, such as the emotions and the notion of time and the things we no longer associate with or left.

The concept of memory has no form, and this is something that is reflected in the appearance of the work in which the body becomes a shade and element of its surroundings. The attempt to create something coherent with the concept of memory has resulted in a set of visual imagery that is abstract and ambiguous. Ultimately, this project is an exploration of the body’s memory relationships and the intertwining process between them. Perhaps, this is a visual idea of memory and a trace of identity, have visible and half remains to be discovered in time. Memory is not a complete record, these pieces in the project are parts of a whole and the whole is half of what is. In search of traces of the body over the duration of time is a recollection of a human measurement of the relative to the things of the things. The past is not the notion of remembrance because it is a thing of the past, but because our present returns to the past, and therefore, the future is a sum of the past, and memory is that thing of time and being. Our experience is the creation of memories and memory is our present and it is associated with meanings and the meaning are the pieces of stories. The meaning of this project is the identity and the identity is part of the stories that will be remembered and the body is the acting of the stories which are the memories. The body is the thing that moves the memory in relation to time and place, with correlation to the mind and the soul.

**Alan Abdulkader**
*Body’s Memory, Series # 01*
Photography
NFS

**Alan Abdulkader**
*Body’s Memory, Series # 03*
Photography
NFS

**Alan Abdulkader**
*Body’s Memory, Series # 06*
Photography
NFS

**Alan Abdulkader**
*Body’s Memory, Series # 08*
Photography
NFS

EMILY PAUL’s acrylic paintings focus on creating a sense of harmony and atmosphere by curating seemingly random items. Each piece centers around a vehicle whose personality is expanded and explored through the correlated objects. As a result, the paintings have a unique sense of ambiance and character.

Combined in one space, the viewer experiences each piece's personality alongside the artists'. Emily's fondness for play, humor, and the absurd is depicted not only in the content of each work but also by the layers of personal journaling, words, and doodles that peek out of the intuitively painted abstract background.

The works as a whole speak to the multifaceted nature of the artist's personality. Emily Paul grew up in Jackson, Wyoming, and has lived in Bellingham, Washington, since 2005. She holds a BA in Fine Arts and Creative Writing from Western Washington University. Currently, she works as a Realtor with blu.ink in Whatcom and Skagit counties, helping people realize their real estate dreams. Emily is also a snowboarder, yogi, and dog mom to Linus Shrimp. She never wants to grow up.

www.thisisemilypaul.com

thisisemilypaul@gmail.com

@thisisemilypaulsart

**Emily Paul**
*The American*, 2022
Acrylic, pencil, pastel and marker on canvas
$1,200

***Emily Paul***
***After Dark, 2022***
***Acrylic, pencil, pastel and marker on canvas***
***$1200***

***Emily Paul***
***Fancy Pants, 2022***
***Acrylic, pencil, pastel and marker on canvas***
***$1200***

***Emily Paul***
***Home on The Change, 2022***
***Acrylic, pencil, pastel and marker on canvas***
***$1200***

ELLIE WEAVER

A few weeks ago a man chased me and my friend with a knife. It was a big knife. While we ran I could hardly speak on the phone to 911. I was out of breath and running as fast as I could. I really thought we were going to die.

When we could we would scream for help. But no one heard us. If they did, they certainly didn’t come to help us.

The truth is I’ve been screaming for help my entire life and no one has ever heard me. I am screaming now. Louder than ever.

No one has shown up.