Tales from Samarkand

Welcome to the space where I'll be sharing stories, art, poetry, and other pieces drawn from my personal take on some Persian folklore! Many of the ideas in these stories come from my father, who in turn got most of them from his grandmother, whom he called Khanom. My father grew up in Tehran, but the stories Khanom told often took place in some far-flung part of the at-times vast Persian Empire. I've imagined many of these stories to take place in Samarkand, a city on the Silk Road which long loomed large in the Persian cultural memory.

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The Inspector and the Crow. Frames taken from my mom’s recording of my performance at the art show. https://www.instagram.com/p/CT3ChpDPTEk/?utm_medium=tumblr

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🍋 Canada geese as seen at the cemetery where my paternal grandparents are buried. There weren’t lemons at the cemetery itself, but on the drive there through Hayward we saw lots of beautiful lemon and Meyer lemon trees peaking over people’s fences. Grandma loved lemons; when we buried her last year, we gave her one so she could make her tea properly in the next life. 🍋 #watercolor #geese #canadageese #meyerlemon #lemontree https://www.instagram.com/p/CL69vEyMkR-/?igshid=dc2amazlspke

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Naqaash, the Painter, doing what he can to protect precious autumn fruits. #persimmon #mixedmedia #comicsoninstagram #persian #naqaash https://www.instagram.com/p/CHBQldZhDvk/?igshid=geelhm0cjgqd

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Akbar Pahlavān doing Persian pushups. Pen on paper. Pahlavān is “the Champion” of the zoorkhaneh—a traditional Persian gym/wrestling studio/poetry club. My stories for him are mostly based on my grandfather, who apparently did pushups for three to four hours straight every morning. — I drew this a couple weeks ago but didn’t post it because I wasn’t happy with it. In particular, the perspective on the right leg (his right) gave me a lot of trouble. Still, the pants and back hair have grown on me, and I thought I’d share. #gains #illustration #pushup #persian #persianfolklore #zoorkhaneh #micronpen https://www.instagram.com/p/CGiEHb8AA3L/?igshid=2to2qelndgdk

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Shaa'er, the Poet. Calligraphy pen and brush pen on paper. I can't believe it's been a year since @ssjulian nudged me to do Inktober for the first time. I have a number of irons in the creative fire, including the beginnings of a short one-act musical featuring Shaa'er as the lead, but I'm looking forward to having an excuse (and a community) to focus on drawing for a month. Look out for drawings every day on this account, and possibly another one... For those who are looking to improve at drawing, I highly recommend jumping in on Inktober! Just Google it—Instagram isn't great with links.It's tough to overstate how liberating it is to focus on quantity over quality. The best part is, if you are attentive and deliberate, the brain finds a way to make quality happen after all. Shaa'er believes in you. Come join us! #persian #persianfolklore #illustration #inktober #shaaer #poet https://www.instagram.com/p/CFup2snMpPg/?igshid=127h0pk6ewzcp

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Significantly later-gram here. This is a postcard I made for a friend who was stuck out in the Pacific back in spring. It’s an old Persian poem, and it reads: Derakhti sabz boodam konj-e bisheh/Tarāshidan marā bā zarb-e tisheh/Tarāshidan marā qalyoon besāzan/Ke ātash bar saram bāshad hamisheh. “I was a green tree in the corner of the forest/they cut me with blows from an axe/they cut me to make a hookah/now my head is always on fire.” I painted this thing over several weeks and it took over a month to make it to my friend, then I never posted it. But, as it’s one of the pieces that took me the longest, I figured I ought to share. That, and the poem—written almost a thousand years ago—feels more relevant every day. #watercolor #illuminatedtext #babataher #persian #poetry #persianpoetry #postcards https://www.instagram.com/p/CFkN0iUs6yw/?igshid=1uuo1anly6ss9

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“Eye See You.” Ali Bandbaaz, Thief with a Rope, descends into the cavern of Binnesh, whose thousand eyes can see your very thoughts. Micron and brush pen on paper. #illustration #micronpen #inkdrawing #alibandbaaz #bandbaaz #thief #rope #folklore #persian #persianfolklore https://www.instagram.com/p/CE5tLWLMuyx/?igshid=higcd4z6b58k

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Some beings just want to watch the world burn. Div-e Ghermez, “The Red Div”. Brush pens and calligraphy pens on paper. #tombowbrushpen #tombowcalligraphypen #persian #persianfolklore #folklore #illustration https://www.instagram.com/p/CEpTwpLM9bR/?igshid=16u5wskjmosd0

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You know who that is, watching the crows over there? Some call him Rád, “The Thunder”, because when they try to catch him, he disappears with a loud bang and a flash of smoke. Others call him Ram-maal, “The Stone Reader”. But you probably know him as Saaher, “The Sorcerer”, and this name suits him best. You know, I met him once! At the ghahve-khaneh, the coffeehouse, and I asked him if it was true that he could turn into a crow. Saaher said to me, “I’ll tell you a secret: “Many years ago I walked to far India, where I met an old Riaazat-Kesh, an ascetic, and I asked him the same thing. He just smiled and walked away. I followed him a hundred miles to a field where crows gathered, cawing and bickering over the broken stalks of onion-flowers. ”‘No man can turn into a crow,’ the Riaazat-Kesh told me, 'for God did not really make men on one day and crows on another. Look at them. Look at yourself. You are already a crow, and when you understand this, you will fly.’“ I was distracted, then, by a crow—they are everywhere, really—who was loudly breaking a walnut against the gutter of the coffeehouse. I wondered if I, too, was the same as a crow. I turned back to Saaher to ask him, but he was gone. — #crow #tombowcalligraphypen #sorcerer #persian #folklore #india #wisdom #illustration #persianfolklore #shapeshifter
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEhmyWGsOJG/?igshid=uwwv30qf0b1y

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(Better lighting, border added) 
“The Arabian Checkmate”: Savaar-e Chaabok, the Agile Cavalier, flanks with a siege tower and traps the enemy king at the edge of the battlefield. #persian #folklore #persianfolklore #chess #illustration #warriorwoman #micronpen
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEccnoBsCEh/?igshid=dq6amahqk5la

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“The Arabian Checkmate”: Savaar-e Chaabok, the Agile Cavalier, flanks with a siege tower and traps the enemy king at the edge of the battlefield. #micronpen #persian #chess #illustration #checkmate #persianfolklore https://www.instagram.com/p/CEarfa5sEEK/?igshid=mzc81of6a3pc

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Khizr, “the Green One,” a servant of God who guards the sea and holds secret wisdom. In the Quran, Moses meets Khizr at a junction of two seas and travels with him on the promise that he will not question Khizr’s behavior. When Moses can’t help but question three seemingly objectionable actions of Khizr, they part ways, but only after Khizr explains the factors of which Moses was unaware that justified the actions. #khizr #khidr #alkhidr #quran #folklore #tombowbrushpen #illustration https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZrrSbDOgm/?igshid=8sfk4olgth6

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Self-portrait for the COVID times. Micron and brush pen on paper. #inkdrawing #micronpen https://www.instagram.com/p/CEXWlOesNp_/?igshid=1o20m7ixe86r5

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Dusting off the brush pens to sketch a Caspian white fish. #fish #illustration #tombowdualbrushpens https://www.instagram.com/p/CEOKQUhsJoA/?igshid=1bnl7bka5aot8

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Gol o Bolbol: Rose and Nightingale. #persian #persianfolklore #miniatures #prototyping #nightingale https://www.instagram.com/p/CCr0M7usfbN/?igshid=1xlsy4cmscwfe

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Little birbs: hoopoe, nightingale, partridges. Prototype game pieces? Maybe. #persianfolklore #bird #birdillustration #standees #micronpen https://www.instagram.com/p/CCXJZ22s32A/?igshid=t4i30xesa13a

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Ezhdehaa-ye Kaazeb, the “False Dragon” or Dragon of Falsehoods. Really just a gnarly riparian predator, the Kaazeb disguises itself as a cypress or pine tree and lives for the thrill of the hunt. #micronpen #staedtlerfineliner #persian #folklore #persianfolklore #dragon #inkdrawing https://www.instagram.com/p/CBWsM2WM6F8/?igshid=15iqrcgdz3mle