Hidden Eyes-2021
After my aunt passed away, I tapped into an amazing photo collection in her home related to the Qajar dynasty which ruled over Iran from 1789 to 1925. Photography first came to Iran by Naser Al-Din Shah Qajar the 4th king of this dynasty. So, most of the photos remaining from that period belong to royal families and their dependents. But serendipitous, the precious archive that I found consists of ordinary people's photos. The idea of this project poured into my mind while I was drawn into their eyes despair and under influence of René Magritte's thought-provoking, surreal images. The great famine, the first world war, the Qajar Shahs autarchy, and widespread pandemics of murderous illnesses such as cholera, all happened in that period and people were suffering a lot. Therefore, I eliminated those grieving eyes to allow the audience to tell their own individual story of every person frozen in the pictures by discovering the details, dresses, poses, and stuff they were proud of (such as their weapons).
After my aunt passed away, I tapped into an amazing photo collection in her home related to the Qajar dynasty which ruled over Iran from 1789 to 1925. Photography first came to Iran by Naser Al-Din Shah Qajar the 4th king of this dynasty. So, most of the photos remaining from that period belong to royal families and their dependents. But serendipitous, the precious archive that I found consists of ordinary people's photos. The idea of this project poured into my mind while I was drawn into their eyes despair and under influence of René Magritte's thought-provoking, surreal images. The great famine, the first world war, the Qajar Shahs autarchy, and widespread pandemics of murderous illnesses such as cholera, all happened in that period and people were suffering a lot. Therefore, I eliminated those grieving eyes to allow the audience to tell their own individual story of every person frozen in the pictures by discovering the details, dresses, poses, and stuff they were proud of (such as their weapons).
