
Many people have asked me to explain the meaning of my photographs. I have always been reluctant to do so, because I don't want to impose my own interpretation on the viewer or limit the possibilities of how a work can be understood. Once an artwork is created, it should be free to speak for itself, and its meaning should not belong to the artist alone. Each viewer brings their own experiences, thoughts, and feelings to the work and is free to discover a personal interpretation. What follows is therefore a general explanation of my artistic approach and the ideas behind my photographic series, rather than an explanation of individual photographs.
Across my work, form and content are inseparable. Sometimes an idea determines the form; at other times, a visual idea leads me toward its subject.
My main concern is to develop my own signature and present photos whose atmosphere is my own creation. Some of my collections take years to create the right form and content.
It is your duty to discover my artworks with your own eyes and thoughts. I give you the key, but the way to open the door is yours.
Art Nude: Since I began taking nude photographs in 2004, solitude has emerged as a recurring theme in my work.In both religious and so-called modern societies, nudity is often approached through moral judgments and taboos. As a result, the naked body can overshadow the artistic ideas expressed through it. My intention is to move beyond this limited view and explore nudity as a visual and expressive element in art.
For me, the nude body can challenge social judgments by removing the signs of status and social class conveyed through clothing. I believe that beauty is not defined by conventional standards of appearance, age, or body shape. I therefore photograph ordinary women whose bodies, to me, possess equal beauty and dignity.
Nudity can also express vulnerability, liberation, insecurity, rebellion, violence, and loneliness. Depending on the work, the body may become a subject of beauty in itself or a means of exploring deeper psychological and social themes. The interpretation of an image, including its erotic dimension, also depends on the viewer and the context in which it is presented.
Lonely in Darkness: This personalized atmosphere came in form of pitch-dark spaces with lonely human figures placed at a corner. After several years of working in the domain of nude art, in 2008 I started working on this project. Lonely figures which were placed against dominantly dark spaces constituted the common visual element of this project. The black spaces stand for a darkened lifestyle which I’ve always been critical of. Such presentation is a reflection of my beliefs. gloom and sorrow is an inevitable and dominant aspect of people’s life.
Islamic Turbans and Victim of Verses: For several years I had this idea of creating a photo series which presents a critical view of the violence in Islam. Eventually in 2011 I started working on two collections called Islamic Turbans and Victims of the Verses. Due to their new and different approaches in underscoring the shackles of religion and the religion-induced violence, these two series of photos garnered ample attention. In Islamic Turban series, a turban turns into a tool for [committing] violence. The formation of this series, its atmosphere and style and selection of its subjects took a good two years. In Victim of Verses series, I researched for months and selected the verses from Quran which advocates violence and discrimination against women. These verses are shown written on a fabric and extend over a [feminine] body which is veritably enchained by a them.
Legend: In Legend series I was studying traditional Persian paintings for several years and had this idea in mind that one day I should take photos with minimized perspective, which instead present some elements of Persian paintings such as Tazhib (Gilding) and Iranian symbols. After several years (almost 7 years) of consideration and experience, I alighted upon the idea of using Persian carpet as the background and taking photos from an overhead angle.
Doppelganger: In most of the Doppelganger series I’m physically present. My intention in this series here is to capture the physical and emotional relation between two people in various forms and embodiments. Sometimes people are physically together and emotionally faraway and vice versa. It’s probably a series of photos in which eroticism has been given prominence.
A Window to Darkness: This series deals with violence and sex and indifference about what’s happening around, by using a dark space and localized lighting. One can identify in these photos influences from Tenebrism school and Baroque painting and these influences are processed through a creative vision and translated into a personal style.
Silence & Dreams: is the idea to achieve some sort of minimalism and I was inspire of the Japanese poetry Haiku and also Khayyam. Still I have my own signature in this series and colors and composition comes from my interest in painting, my own poetry and also my dreams. It’s the first time I use the white solid color as a background and there are a few elements of nature in an empty space which dominates the other objects.
Life and Feeling: Two series reflecting my perspective on human life and emotions.
Near and Faraway: Series exploring still life, details, forms, and landscapes.
Green: In this ongoing series, I use green grass as a natural setting in which the human body enters into different relationships with nature. Through the placement, shape, and position of the body, I explore its connection with the natural world, creating compositions in which the body becomes part of the landscape. The series is an exploration of the body, nature, and the visual possibilities that emerge from their relationship.