The Road to Persepolis

2011

This body of work was conceived following an invitation to visit Iran, a nation that holds the remains of some of the greatest moments of humankind history. Yet, because of the political and diplomatic situation currently associated to the name of this country, the idea of the trip was at once highly attractive and a little unsettling.

The visit of Persepolis became the exciting purpose of the trip but its organisation was also somehow a subject of concern. Reyhaneh, the student who had invited me, insisted that everything could be easily taken care of. The idea of the journey oscillated between two perceptions opposing the splendours of the various Persian empires and the much talked about rigour of the Islamic republic, the dreams of a fantasize past and the reality of today's society as reported by the media.

The work, and more particularly its title, was also influenced by two classics of travel literature, L'Usage du Monde by Nicolas Bouvier (1963) and The Road to Oxiana by Robert Byron (1937). These books describe travel experiences on the road of Iran, the latter driven by a search for the splendours of Islamic architecture before WW2, and the former as a 1950s travel adventure that announced the hippy quest of the 70s.

By the end of the journey, the ambivalent sensation experienced during its preparation had become reality. On arrival, a custom officer had suspiciously described my Kodak films as being "American", but people had been fantastically hospitable and generous. The austere chadors dominated the streets but fashionable ladies had also developed a style of their own. Indeed everything had been no problem as my student promised, yet my last night in Teheran was spent stuck in her family's home due to street demonstrations following the election held the day before. 

Everything had been what I expected and yet at the same time, its opposite. Reality and imagination had walked all the while hand in hand. It is this contrasting parallel that I eventually chose to express by pairing dreamy timeless images taken using a Brownie camera with reversed lens and digital shots of contemporary Iran.

The presentation of these "travelogue occurrences", visually recorded during the trip of close to 2000km across the Iranian desert is just about a week, will be further enhanced by a soundscape specially created by Damien Lock.

The Road to Persepolis

Part I - Teheran to Persepolis

Persepolis

As seen through the lens of a Browniee Camera

The Road to Persepolis

Part II - Isfahan to Teheran

Exhibition E-Invite

Installation View

The Road to Persepolis

Part I
Teheran to Persepolis

Persopolis

As seen through the lens of a Browniee Camera

The Road to Persepolis

Part II
Isfahan to Teheran
I AM MA.
As simple as that.
And I work on the space between things.
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