Aksbazi
Photo-game or “Aksbazi is a place for Iranians both inside and outside Iran to come together and play through the medium of photography.
That’s all!”
“Through the games we create we will record and show a different, insider view of our environment and our lives. An insider’s reply to the clichéd visual stereotypes used to place us in the world.”
Balcony: Ramin Sadighi, Bahman Kiarostami
Kicthen: Ali Shahbazyar, Afshan Daneshvar
Kicthen: Abbas Kowsari
How did you spend your New Year holidays? Arash Fayez
Peykan is always shining! Abbas Kowsari
$$$
The Guardian: Iranian beggar was a real-life slumdog millionaire
Photo: Blind beggar with woman and child by Antoin Sevruguin (late 1830s-1933), see photogallery
Catching up
From Mohamed‘s blog:
This is an image from the labor camps that I took last December.
It is one of a series of images that has been selected for an exhibition in New York titled Dubai Underground that will open today on the 13th of February. The exhibition is organized by mezze that represents emerging artists living and originating from Asia and the Middle East and the show aims to expose the NY art market with glimpses of the cultural complexity of Dubai.
The gallery that will host the exhibition is called Like the Spice – a charming gallery in the up and coming area of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY which I had the pleasure of visiting while in NY last week.
Check out the rest of my work that is being shown there by clicking here and a press release of the show here.
Irfan
From Seeing Things: “This is Irfan. He is a construction worker here in Dubai who I met almost two years ago. We have kept in touch since. I had blogged about his roommate, Zia before. Irfan got married a couple of months ago. He even invited me to his wedding in North Pakistan which I would have loved to be a part of. I went to see him a few weeks ago when he returned and he showed me the picture of him and his wife whom he cant bring here of course. Her name is Kawthar and she is 16 years old. He is in his late twenties.”
You have already seen Mohamed‘s photos in this blog. I am very happy to add his great photoblog as a “Sister-city site” – thx Ann for this idea 🙂
Mohamed has just returned to Dubai from Tehran – one of his many trips to Iran. He has started another Iran series, here is the first photo: Plastic Fantastic
Lux
Stygian light courtesy of Kristen Alvanson (who btw has the most beautiful dark blue eyes)
Stygian:
- pitch-black: unremittingly dark and frightening, as hell is imagined to be
- of Styx: the river in Greek mythology that the souls of the dead were ferried across into Hades
- binding: eternally binding, as were promises sworn on the banks of the river Styx
Previous related posts
Afghanistan, Fashion, 1968
Along the Silk Route in Afghanistan by Fred Maroon
From Informed Comment: Global Affairs: Fashion shoots, Afghanistan 1968
Luke Powell another photographer who was attracted to Afghan culture, remembers the 70’s: “No motor vehicles, no power lines. Everything was homemade and everyone was happy and no one was hungry. It was the most beautiful place“. See previous post.
Vank
Seeing things is definitely one of my favorite photoblogs. Here is a picture of the Vank Cathedral. Courtesy of Mohamed Somji
Relevant links:
Historical Churches in Iran
Bethlehem Church, photos
Venice & Bidel
An email from Riccardo Zipoli :
” I have recently updated my website with 157 new photos featuring Iran (the site now contains 595 photos of Iran). There are four new collections […] also new galleries of other countries […]
I am glad to announce the opening of my exhibition Venice in windows at the Museum of Modern Arts of Tehran (19February-13 April 2008). The photos, which show Venice reflected in the panes of its own windows, are accompanied by lines of verse dedicated to the theme of the mirror taken from the Persian divan of Bidel (1644-1720).”
See Venice in windows in the Italian gallery
Riccardo Zipoli is a professor of Persian language and literature at the University of Venice. He has published many articles and books about classical and contemporary Persian poetry. He is also working in the field of translation such as two books of poems by the Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami. Currently he is working on questions of stylistics and rhetoric with a special focus on Persian rhyme and satirical and obscene verse. He has also carried out an intense photographic activity initially devoted to the Persian landscape… read more
Previous posts:
Contemplation
Door
Relevant link: Abdul-Qader Bedil, and Devoted to
Inner Eye: The photographs of Riccardo Zipoli at Tehran Museum of contemporary art
Lux
“Lumpen Orientalism gathers the fragments of a lost civilization, the decaying parts of a breathing animal _ the Middle East. Named after a term suggested by China Miéville, Lumpen Orientalism captures an anomalous fascination with the Middle East and Asia in a similar way to the mongrel visions of Gilles Deleuze, H. P. Lovecraft, Gaëtan Clérambault and William Beckford for tackling this enigmatic monstrosity. “
Kristen Alvanson, Iran, 2008
Previous post: Kristen Alvanson
Relevant link: Mirror Architecture in Iran and Rajastan
Made in Tehran
Gallery Cicero for political photography in cooperation with Artefakt and the Centre of Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin, presented recently Made in Tehran: Six Perspectives, an exhibition of photos by a group of six Iranian women – all born between 1974 and 1981, “… the six all are trying to complicate what are common, overly simplistic views of the place of women in Iranian society and politics…” The Guardian
Featured artists:
Mehraneh Atashi
Gohar Dashti
Ghazaleh Hedayat
Shadi Ghadirian, see gallery, slide show, an interview
Newsha Tavakolia, see previous post Newsha
Hamila Vakili, see gallery
Female photographers depict their Iran, Speigel
The secret lives of us: From beauty salons to traditional male strongholds, Iranian women are using photography to show their country in a different light. The Guardian
Forget the sterotypes: Iran’s women are active and organised, In my country the struggle for empowerment and equality has a long history. Massoumeh Torfeh, The Guardian
Link – and more pictures via Aida Foroutan
Misc.
Scattered Reminiscent
Farshid Azarang
Persian Visions: Contemporary Photography From Iran tours 11 US cities, see also International Art & Artists for description, details, selected artists and images.
USINFO.State.Gov: more about the exhibition
More contemporary Iranian photography at Silk Road Gallery
Certified Copy, with Juliette Binoche is the next Kiarostami movie, shot in San Gimignano, Tuscany.
Black-Ops through Pakistan and Do you doubt me? by 99
Also a series of six articles by Paul Sheldon Foot, professor of California State University, Fullerton, OpEdNews
Earth II discovered!: a few weeks ago the UN announced in a press release that the United Nations General Assembly will debate “establishing diplomatic relations with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.” … read more at Doug’s Darkworld.
Virtual Easter Egg at wordpress.
Forever Under Construction 
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