The concept of identity has consistently been the principal subject matter of Yousefian’s work. In her early Self-Portraits series, Yousefian was exploring her own “double identity” as an immigrant, and later she expanded upon that idea in her succeeding Universal Identity series, drawing the conclusion that there are many more nuanced factors that shape an identity than merely the place or culture that one comes from and that in daily interactions with other people, universal factors such as age, gender, race and characters of other people will influence and form one’s own identity.

In Abstract Identity series, this series, Yousefian touches upon the idea that identity is too abstract to be objectively understood or explained. It is masked and obscured by our subjective presumptions and interpretations of others and even of ourselves.

In this body of work, by adding even more layers of colors and textures to the composite portraits made from collaged negatives printed on canvas, Yousefian is attempting to show the viewer that it is impossible to define or understand the true identity of a person with all of its complexity and fluidity.