‘Something called American Dream. To have a farm, a big car, some buffalos, a house and you will be happy.’

I begin, put signs in a row.

…Merlyn Monroe…Los Angeles Times…American dollars…American passport…Fedex.

A scene of a fight of an Iranian-Arab saint …a veiled woman…One Thousand and One Nights dancer…a scene from an Iranian miniature…Iran.

Compose!…Juxtapose!…Reread!…Apply semiotics!

On the Other Side of Whiteness. The title of Mahmood Sabzi’s exhibition at Azad Art Gallery. Mixed-media on canvas.

I consider the illustrator artist a narrator. So what is the narrative here? The narrative behind this call to a semiotic game? That I should compose. Reread them in juxtaposition, reread a body of ordinary sayings. A lifeless body that is being dissected mistakenly, then stitched together, then framed. There is no pain, only images that are juxtaposed for one reason only.

Therefore I easily pass. That’s the only thing I can do. No matter where the artist is standing, to me, he is only ‘standing’. And the only reason for the existence of these images is what is called Emirati Dream. Much closer and realer than the American Dream.