Collage made with the gifted and found objects. This Iranian newspaper was originally wrapped around a small gift a friend brought me from Iran. At the time, Iran was a place that had only existed for me through stories told by others. This newspaper, a tangible object from this storied homeland felt precious, and I saved it for 4 years before I used it for this project. This piece, Read from Right to Left, was inspired by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s words “The homeland was born in exile. Paradise was born from the hell of absence”. As I flip through this newspaper I consider the construction of collective memory in the diaspora, my own longing and diasporic imagination of Iran, and grasp and construct glimpses of home in the familiar and unfamiliar words.