A few weeks ago, I had a short email exchange with a reader on whether the blog should feature work from some countries. Iran, and other Middle Asian states were embroiled as I considered them to be Middle Eastern countries. I ruminated over it for several days and it did not feel right - how can one limit good work from being shared? Much less, over so called geographical boundaries? It would have been selfish on my part.
Anyway, check out Mirzaei’s The Encounters series. An interesting body of work of people photographing each other at various tourist hot spots. From the high vantage point, moments are frozen and reduced into graphical elements. It becomes an examination of us, as a camera-toting race and our obsessive compulsion to record everything around us.
TOP TO BOTTOM, (from “The Encounters“)
© Mohammadreza Mirzaei, 2007
I believe this is a good start for exploration into Middle Eastern/Asian photography. Geographical lines and labels mean nothing, as long as we possess the same passion/obsession for photography.
Edit: Apologies for the clunky sentences earlier. Was writing the post while in the office.
I’m glad you wrote that about labels/geography, since that was one of the things I found most annoying about the whole blog idea (’Asian only!’), but at the same time I totally understood the point (or rather, the counterpoint) and generally apply it to my own life with the aid of the Web and sites like this. Hope that made sense, vague as it was.
much agreed but I guess as humans, we need some forms of categorization to make sense of the world. It does help to focus the blog’s direction and differentiate it from the dime and dozen blogs on photography out there.
the simplicity of his photos is stunning!
Even more abstract are Narelle Autio’s shots from Australia (which is arguably also part of Asia too :))
http://www.stillsgallery.com.au/artists/autio/index.php?obj_id=series_04&nav=4
heh. thanks for the link, geoff. slacking off at work?
I’m fully agree with you about unmeaning geographical labels. maybe that’s why I love your blog: the chance you give us to learn about the unfamiliar emerging artists. Anyway, I really love Mirzaei’s works. however I can’t believe he is 22, He seems so mature in his photos. Thanks for sharing!