From Care to Protection: Loving Hands began as a gesture of care.
The work emerged from the image of a loving, nurturing hand — a universal symbol of support, tenderness, protection, and human connection. Gradually, the hand and the heart merged into a single structure.
Within its palm is the sense of a contained space — the living heart we carry within ourselves: our values, our dreams, our attachments, and everything we choose to give to the world.
The palm takes the form of a nest.
A nest is not simply a place of shelter. It is a space where something fragile can exist long enough to become strong — where what we love is held, protected, and nurtured.
The skin of the original work was covered with floral drawings. These patterns became a visual language for what I call the genetics of energy: the invisible transmission of what we carry, cultivate, and pass forward. Flowers appear as manifestations of an inner system — growth made visible on the surface of the body.
WHEN THE HAND BECAME A SHIELD In March 2026, the meaning of the work shifted. Reality entered the work.
The hand became a shield — no longer only a structure that holds and nurtures, but one that absorbs impact in order to protect what exists behind it.
The surface changed under pressure.
Burns, scratches, abrasions, and traces of impact appeared on the skin. The marks transformed the work's visual language. The surface no longer spoke only of growth. It began to speak of endurance.
The idea of the genome expanded with it.
A living system does not simply grow under ideal conditions. It responds to pressure. It adapts, reorganizes, protects itself, and continues.
In this sense, the marks on the hand are not signs of destruction. They are records of adaptation.
Those who absorb the impact are often the ones protecting what grows behind them.
THE GUARDIANS During the 2026 Iranian conflict, this role became especially tangible to me through the UAE Armed Forces — guardians whose responsibility is to protect the people living within, and those visiting, the United Arab Emirates.
They carry the impact so that others can continue to live, work, create, love, and grow. They protect the gardens behind them.
For me, Loving Hands became a gesture of recognition toward this invisible exchange: the sacrifice of those who stand between danger and the lives they protect.
Their marks and symbols became part of the body of the artwork, tattooed into its surface. The personal became collective.
A LANGUAGE WITHIN THE SURFACE Morse code is embedded within the drawings as another subtle layer of communication. Within the flag, its colors are translated into Morse code. Beneath it appears the message: “I’ve got you.”
It is a simple sentence, but within the work it becomes a powerful expression of protection — a message exchanged between guardians and those they protect.
The words describe not only physical security, but a deeper human promise: You are not alone. I am here. I will hold the impact.
ART TRANSFORMED BY LIFE Loving Hands remains rooted in reality.
The work was not conceived as a fixed symbol and then left untouched. Its meaning changed because life changed. Material transformation became a way of recording that shift.
The scars are therefore not an addition to the original idea. They are evidence of its evolution.
The hand that once formed a nest became a shield.
The skin that once represented growth became a record of endurance. The flowers remained — but now they grow behind the scars.
This is where the work enters the larger artistic research of Kirin Arts: the exploration of how invisible structures of consciousness, value, memory, protection, and human connection can become embodied in material form.
Loving Hands is ultimately an act of honoring the Guardians of the Nation — and a remembrance of the marks and sacrifices made in the service of protection.
It is a gesture of gratitude toward those Loving Hands that absorb what they can so that others may continue to grow their gardens.
GUARDIANS OF THE NATION In 2026, Loving Hands was presented as part of the exhibition “Guardians of the Nation” at the University of Sharjah.
The exhibition was curated by the University of Sharjah in partnership with DiarBid Arthouse, Emirates Fine Arts Society, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and Aswar Art Centre.
The opening was highlighted by the presence of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al-Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah and President of the University of Sharjah, and was featured by Sharjah Media.
Within the exhibition, Loving Hands explored protection, sacrifice, and the traces left by reality itself — carrying marks, symbols, and layered surfaces shaped through both material process and lived experience.
It was an honor to participate alongside the many artists brought together for this exhibition and to share this moment of recognition and reflection.
Loving Hands is a work about care.
But it is also about what care sometimes requires: to stand in front, to receive the impact, to carry the scars, and to keep the garden alive.