Interspatial Camouflage

Inspired by a Persian proverb—“If you wish not to be disgraced, blend in with the crowd”—this series explores identity, adaptation, and self-concealment through layered images shaped by my experience of migration and belonging.

Interspatial Camouflage is a photographic project that explores the emotional and psychological strategies we develop to adapt to unfamiliar environments—especially when displacement becomes a recurring theme. The work is rooted in my personal experience of migration and the quiet negotiations of identity that happen when you’re constantly reshaping yourself to remain unseen or to fit in.

The project is anchored by a Persian proverb I grew up hearing: “If you wish not to be disgraced, blend in with the crowd.” That sentence has lingered with me—it’s both protective and unsettling. In many ways, it captures the core of this work: how we learn to blend in, to become part of the background, as a means of survival.

Using techniques like photomontage and multiple exposure, I construct layered images that reflect the complexity of these in-between states. The visual language is deliberately fragmented yet fluid—echoing the internal dissonance that comes with being present but not fully seen.

Rather than offering a fixed narrative, the series holds space for ambiguity. It’s about the tension between visibility and erasure, adaptation and alienation. The work doesn’t aim to resolve these oppositions but acknowledges them as ongoing realities within the migrant experience.

Though this project is deeply personal, I hope it resonates with anyone who’s ever had to camouflage parts of themselves in order to feel safe, accepted, or simply left alone.