My name is Shaheer AA, and my family and I are Pakistani immigrants that have now resided in Seattle Washington for over 10 years. Throughout my life I've always enjoyed movies and TV at a young age, and later I even started getting the passion for making them – a passion that mainly blossomed thanks to a multimedia class I took during middle school. The teacher I had was awesome; he taught me the basics of photography and video, while also providing a supportive environment to learn and experiment with video editing in applications like Premiere Pro & After Effects. And it is through this learning that reinforced the reason I love making movies and films in the first place; I believe that they are a powerful medium—if not the strongest—to tell a story that can deeply affect viewers in an emotional manner.

I want to emphasize how much my family, especially my mom and dad, have supported me throughout my life — as without them, I would not been able to pursue such a passion. And truthfully, they are my greatest inspiration in all my work.

My self portrait and the Skeleton poster picture both share a common theme of belonging and self identity, or rather lack of it- The bleakness and colorlessness represents an internal isolation and disconnection within me, about my culture and mother tongue -so much so, that I sometimes feel lost in terms of who I am. Which is sad, because I want to be close, and cling to my Pakistani culture. And In a way, the Skeleton in the second photo is an analogy of myself; a identity-less figure clinging to something dear in a place that lacks it. Although my home and certain cultural links have kept me close to my roots- it still feels like I leave a part of myself for when I go for school or anywhere in general that has me switch to my American/English side of me. Essentially that is why these two photos are the way they are, they show my current struggle for cultural identity within myself, but they lay a point of contrast for when I do feel connected to my roots.

The last photo of chai tea is my personal favorite photo of mine. The reason for this is because the chai tea shown in the photo has always been prominent in not only my life, but for my family as a whole; so when it came to the change I wanted to see (which was for more physical links to one’s own culture, in particular immigrants) it was an obvious personal choice to make chai as the main subject of this photo - as it truly is one of the only intractable links I have to my own culture.  By making the photo vibrant, bright and in a warm tone reflects not only the pleasurable experience of drinking a hot chai, but also the emotion and warmth that surrounds it when it was made and served to family - the warm feeling of home and belonging matches the essence of what this photo represents to me. It's a visual and physical representation of my roots, a celebration of culture, and a reminder of the warmth and love that my family shares, all encapsulated in the simple act of making and then enjoying a cup of chai together.