Photo London 2024
Roya Khadjavi Projects and Nemazee Fine Art present works by six Iranian photographers whose practice focuses on observation, memory, gender, social and cultural trauma, crisis and oblivion.
Ali Tahayori Archive of Longing searches for moments of vulnerability, love and belonging within an inherited family archive. The family photographs are altered, and printed on glass sheets. The printed glass is broken and reassembled to create 3-D sculptural reliefs. The personal becomes the universal, as information is removed from photos through abstraction, fragmentation and distortion provided by raised broken printed glass. Here the broken glass is used to complicate viewers' gaze while looking at history and memory from a queer diasporic lens, searching for glints of intimacy, desire, and queerness in an inherited family album. Negin Mahzoun's practice focuses on observation, memory, and gender. Investigating the consequences of social-cultural trauma and its injurious impact on the body and psyche has been a central core of her practice. The repetitive act of damaging her self-portrait with a needle and simultaneously covering it with stitching is a metaphor for self-destruction often associated with those suffering from trauma. Through this fresh approach, she helps visualize the story of oppression and shares the trauma as a novel treatment. Tooraj Khamenehzadeh began his artistic practice in theatre before shifting to photography and video art. Born and raised in a region where Eastern philosophy prevails drew him toward an interest in mysticism and poetry. His work mixes the personal with the socio-political - raising questions about death, solitude, fear, distress, time, the reason for existence, metamorphosis, crisis, and oblivion - and experiments with various image-based techniques and displays, staging scenarios and using dramatic elements to create an imaginative blend in a combination that is part theatrical, part experimental and part documentary The series of photographs Brides of Mokhber al-Dowleh by Tahmineh Monzavi explore a new side of the ordinary life of the working-class community in Iran. She portrays the bridal gown tailors in south Tehran; workers from deprived social classes whose poor work conditions testify to their meager livelihood. The juxtaposition between the beautiful white of the wedding dresses, the apotheosis of the traditional female dreams, and the rough hands of the working-class men doing the sewing and stitching provokes feelings of wonder and contemplation. Dariush Nehdaran's "Shadows at Supper" offers a modern take on the Last Supper, delving into the complexities of human relationships. Through staged scenes, it reveals the subtle betrayals and hidden animosities of everyday life, prompting viewers to reflect on the authenticity of their connections amidst superficiality. Sussan Deyhim has turned to the poetry of a country woman and kindred spirit the poet Forough Farokhzad and, following that spirit, has branched out into and uncharted territory, including her newfound medium of photographic prints and time-based forms of videos. Known for creating a unique sonic and vocal language imbued with a sense of ritual and aura of mystery, Deyhim-who has been performing publicly since the age of 14 has finally applied her keen sense of dramatic imagery to the production of visual art itself. Deyhim has manifested Forough's poem "Let us believe in the dawn of the cold season" as a series of self-portraits before a mylar scrim that increasingly distorts the performers features. In this manner the reflection betrays a woman's aging process, to the point where she becomes an object Deyhim thus advances Farokhzad's lament about the loss of vouth and beauty into a critique of present-day ageism.
Opening Times
The ninth edition of the fair opens its doors at Somerset House from 16 to 19 May, Preview Day 15 May 2024.
Place: Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
For Sales and Press Please Contact:
Roya Khadjavi: roya.khadjavi@gmail.com