Humans by Mohammadreza Mirzaei (February 8, 2010) 
(3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
Categories / Conceptual Photography / / Click here to open comments section, click again when done to close / 4 Comments
Curator Statement by Elie Domit
I was attracted to Mirzaei's series Human because of it very graphic nature. With this work the viewer has to approach very closely to see the images are actually photographic in nature, and not drawn or cut out silhouettes. It is as if you are looking through a microscope at scenes from the proverbial ant heap. Like a film maker, Mirzaei has zoomed out to capture different configurations, deciding when the shot was right or whether to wait for a few moments for the actors to regroup in different postures. This approach has led to a body work that creates an interaction between the individual scenes when viewed in sequence. All were taken in parks, and in Islamic countries the park, and not so much the home, is where people gather to hang out and socialize. Mirzaei projects a vision of public space that is still shared by people of all ages, and not dominated by a few subgroups or by a controlling state, or even owned by companies. In that sense his works completely belongs to the romantic-existentialist tradition, but it is left for the viewer to decide whether we are looking at scenes from the Theatre of the Absurd, a Kiarostamian movie, a neo noir psychological thriller based on a comic book or a Warholian comedy.
Next / Construction Firms Built More Than 300,000 Houses / Previous / A Culture That Came To Bloom After The Oil Boom /
Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
Humans is devoted to life, death, people and the relations between them and, of course, to loneliness. I was influenced by a poem by Bijan Jalali, the Iranian poet:
the living is impossiblebut we are still here
with ambitions of everything
and we go and we come
In my mind the location in the Humans series is a kind of utopia, a non-descript town. A place unknown to all. It is a stage that becomes a metaphor for life. People are coming, staying for a while, talking, standing, sitting, playing, doing what they must do. and then they leave the stage.
Michael Kenna: Mohammadreza Mirzaei photographs with precision and dispassion. Setting up his camera at a distance, he sees and records anonymous people, "humans," making cameo appearances, alone or in groups, frozen against backdrops of expansive and empty white skies.
We can view Mr. Mirzaei’s photographs literally, as pure documents of time passing in a specific place at various given moments. Life goes on, people come and go, interact, continue on their separate ways, and the land and sky always remain.
We can also look a little deeper and interpret the images allegorically, as a comment or exploration of the nature of our human condition.
Mr. Mirzaei, with reserved sensibility, kindly provides us with an opportunity to quietly reflect and consider the reasons for our existence.
Mohammadreza Mirzaei (1986) lives and works in Tehran, Iran.
Click weblink mrmirzaei.com or browse our archives
Out now! 50pm new issue
Sports Issue Magazine App
Posted in category 649
Fascinating in a strange way…. tiny humans under an endless sky… or is it an endless void? So remote and again in a strange way touching…
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by blogrolls: It Is A Stage That Becomes A Metaphor For Life http://bit.ly/aKW9dY...
[...] [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by RMTF. RMTF said: It Is A Stage That Becomes A Metaphor For Life http://ow.ly/1DSH9 [...]