mashregh-zameen (east-land)
Image Arts Gallery – October 23 to 27, 2006
Namelings Galllery – February 19 to March 9, 2007
Images from around the world are presented to viewers on a daily basis. The path which one chooses for absorbing the information within an image ultimately forms the viewer’s understanding of the subject matter. A common approach to such images by many is to spot the unfamiliar elements within the image, and contrast them with the opposite or familiar in the hopes of placing them into context and eliminating uncertainties. This is not a viable route for understanding a subject, but it does allow the viewer to move on to other priorities (within the same subject or not), by creating an illusion of comprehension within his or her mind. There is a fundamental element missing in many of the images produced today and that is room for active observation on behalf of the viewer.
The way one reacts to something new and remote has a lot to do with ones past experiences. Kinship is found within things that make one comfortable. Active observation of a subject leads to a better understanding of its qualities as oppose to simply highlighting the contrasts between the familiar and unfamiliar.
I started this series of photographs with very careful consideration of the viewing experience. An audience has the right to observe and understand the subject of the photograph on his or her terms, and I as a photographer can only provide my audience with the most appropriate visual representations I can produce. By doing this I am hopping to allow my audience to gain a better understanding of a land which up-close observation of, is deemed intangible by many. This series is my photographic tribute to a familiar landscape.
