Identity, the spirit of the times, and the historical image are keywords that are very important to me, the subject... Read More
Identity, the spirit of the times, and the historical image are keywords that are very important to me, the subject that forms the main body of my work. My practice for the past ten years has been a combination of photography and studying archives. My projects come from my interest in comprehending history and being associated with my society's socio-political situations.
The Inertia project is an archive-based project that I started in 2009. This project began when I decided to photograph people around me because of the challenging political and social experiences that had affected Iranian society in those years. These events coincided with the formation of the "Green Movement" in Iran. A movement sought fundamental reforms in the country's political structure. At that time, the life of each person I met daily and observed daily life of them became more important to me. I was a student at the Tehran University of Art during those years. And the university was one of the most important bases of social and political protests. In the same way, the project's main body was formed by students of the University of Arts at that time. People whom I saw every day and as if I lived with them.
This attitude and project continued throughout these years and continued in various forms. The citation aspect of these images and their archival nature are more important to me than their artistic aspect. This archive is a part of the spirit of the times my generation and I have experienced. What has happened has left an impact on the time we are in. Meanwhile, we are witnessing the continuation of fundamental changes in the power structure in Iran. Today's events are not only about today. It is a continuous desire to change and improve throughout history. This archive of the lives of others who were and are important and may not be alive now.