Shahrnaz Javid.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Perfect happiness is a twilight zone—it sounds creepy. Anything with the word “perfect” is something I would question. Unless the perfect still implied balance. I need a little chaos. A content happiness for me would be the inexhaustible means to create and roam while still maintaining my responsibilities, still working hard, still hungry, still curious, all while being relaxed. I need a little rush to keep the value of me-time.
What is your motto?
I’m not sure I have a motto--the closest thing would be karma, fruition, and deep breaths. In regards to karma--it applies most when no one is looking. In regards to fruition--synonymous to manifestation. See it in my mind, speak it from my mouth, walk it in life. And deep breaths--everyone could use a little more patience and understanding.
What is your current state of mind?
Truthfully? My current state of mind is “what the hell am I doing with my life” and “how can I do better?”Although my blessings are in abundance, what am I doing to give back to those blessings and take them to the next level? Reciprocity.
How would you like to die?
I would like to die without pain and without knowing, obviously (laugh). Maybe I’m hiking somewhere and I blink and my body is no more? Or I’m home dancing around my bed and suddenly I’ve been evaporated to another dimension. My shell is gone and I do not exist on earth but my mind is elsewhere floating around, stuck in a bubble that will never pop.
What is it that you love most about what you do?
What I love most about what I do is that nobody sees me when I’m doing it. I could be right in front of my subject and be invisible. It’s very cool actually—like my super power.
If you could have a conversation with anybody (alive or dead), who would it be? Alive?
Ai Weiwei. Which I would probably be stunned in the beginning and spend the first couple of hours observing him observe me. Dead? My grandparents, all four of them. Maybe in their afterlife there won’t be so much of a language barrier and we can all get to know each other like I’m sure we’ve always hoped.
When did you realize that you wanted to be a creative?
I realized I wanted to be a creative when the pressure of finding a “secure job” didn’t phase me. When I understood how I operated and how much freedom and space I needed to allow myself and when I recognized a pattern throughout life of “Shahrnaz is going to do what Shahrnaz wants to do.”
What motivates you?
My loved ones, trial and error, myself (when I do something right/good and surprise myself).
What do you love about being a woman?
I can tell you what I don’t love about being a woman—that list is much simpler: hormonal breakouts. Other than that I have no complaints, even through the fight of being a woman. I love the magnitude we hold, the love we share, the weight on our shoulders that shifts our hips out and curve our lower backs like a crescent moon. Women are an incredibly strong and magical specimen that I’m proud to call myself.
What is your experience of being a woman, while also being a creative?
That I’m often underestimated— which often causes a smirk to surface &&&&&&&&& I love it (;.
“What I love most about what I do is that nobody sees me when I’m doing it.”
