My name is Amanda Kazemi and I am a visual artist, using primarily graphite and charcoal to create drawings. I pull inspiration and direction from animals, plants, and the human figure. My work often speaks to life’s dualities such as grief and beauty, resistance and growth, and unfolding shifts in my own perspective. I try to weave together opposing dualities and find the middle ground between them, so as to attain a sense of balance within myself.

Plants, animals, and humans are used as placeholders for my emotions or experiences. My black and white charcoal drawings are orchestrated in a dream-like manner, weaving together unexpected combinations of subject matter into one cohesive piece. Each object or subject within my artwork bends in and out of highly rendered light and dark pencil markings, taking on a continuous narrative of the ebb and flow of life. I have recently introduced three-dimensional elements to my drawings to mirror my desire to gain confidence in taking up space, literally and figuratively. The push and pull of two and three-dimensional characteristics of my work are derived from taming conflicting dualities within and regaining equilibrium.