Wildflowers
by Dilan Arslan
This work appears in Khabar Keslan Issue 1. DISORIENT
I am a Zaza Kurd, and my ancestors have lived in this village in Sivas, Turkey for hundreds of years.
I immigrated to Canada from Turkey when I was six years old and whenever I return home to my motherland, I go on long strolls and collect wildflowers.
I do this to remind myself that being an immigrant also makes me a wildflower—for I too am resilient, beautiful, and free.
Dilan Arslan is a Kurdish illustrator, cartoonist, and satirist born in Istanbul, Turkey and raised in Ontario, Canada. She recently graduated from Carleton University with a BA in Communications and Media Studies and hopes to continue exploring the role of orientalism in western media through further education, advocacy, and a little bit of humour.