I am Anahid, a name rooted in water and light, the ancient Persian goddess of the river. I was born in Iran, a country so deep in history and culture that it gets inside you without asking and never fully leaves. Art found me there before I even had words for it. Painting was the place I returned to in every season of my life, in joy and in sadness, in stillness and in chaos. It was never just a hobby or a skill. It was a companion, a shelter, something that was always there.

I later earned my bachelor's degree in textile design from Shariati University in Tehran, where I immersed myself even more deeply in creating. During those years, I launched my own accessory and clothing brand, designing each piece with its own soul while collaborating with galleries and participating in events across many cities in Iran. Alongside it all, painting never stopped. I continued accepting private commissions, creating large-scale murals inside people's homes, and kept showing up for art in every form it asked of me.

Then I moved to California. I started a new life from zero. I found myself missing my family, my friends, my dog, the streets I knew by heart, and all the little things I never expected to miss. Part of you is always carrying a home inside you that no one around you can see.

It was painting that saved me. Or rather, it was painting that found me again. It became the one language that never fails me, the one place where everything makes sense without explanation. As I continued my journey by studying Studio Art at Santa Monica College, I found myself returning to painting with a deeper sense of purpose. Through it, I learned that the moments that shape us are often the quietest ones, the ones we almost forget until they return through memory, colour, or light. Those moments became the heart of my work and inspired the name Lahzeh, the Persian word for "moment."

Today, I live and work in California, creating paintings from everything I carry, the beauty and the loss, the distance and the love.

Every moment leaves. Every painting stays.