I honestly take pride that the art, and even the identity, of my native region defies all definitions. You can't encompass it under a single religion or language or ethnicity or continent or period. This may frustrate analysts but gives me great pride.
This is our region in all its human vastness, a cradle of civilization, defying definitions and refusing to be contained into words. A sublimity that mirrors the ineffable sacredness of the divine.
We are Sunni and Shia and Christian and Jewish and more. We are Arab and Persian and Turkish and Kurdish and Amazigh and Coptic and Assyrian and more. We're not free until we're all free and we're not safe until we're all safe.
