Group photo exhibition
Landscapes Before the Eyes
A survey of man-altered landscapes in Iran
Curated by:
Mehdi Vosoughnia
Landscapes before the Eyes is a collection of photographic works by a young generation; a group of photographers who has documented the altered landscape in Iran with a critical approach. Documenting landscapes in Iranian photography has a long history, however the running current of the changes on the one hand and the environmental issues becoming problematic on the other hand have driven photographers to intuitively record these transient landscapes. Constructions, steel and concrete structures intruding the heart of the nature, the devastation of mountains, the accumulation of urban wastes, and the presence of odd and bizarre objects are thus a limited number of the subject matters that the photographers in this exhibition have worked on.
99 photographs of 40 photographers included in the exhibition has been selected throughout the country. These photographers, with their own personal preoccupations and innovative eyes, have represented negative interference of man in the landscape and its transformations in the last decade. Considering the seminal work of the New Topographers in the 70s in the USA one can clearly recognize some aspects of this visual tradition in the works of this exhibition. It should be noticed that these photographs are valuable documents of demolishing landscapes being recorded in the midst of a change.
The primary intention of collecting these works is to hand out a visual analysis of man-altered Iranian landscape – the representation of a limited part of tragedies which have been always denied or belittled. One should note this path is in its beginning phases in Iran and the subject matter is widespread; thus this body of works is a small step ahead to introduce a new and comprehensive approach in landscape photography which could be traced here and there in the last decades’ photographs.
Mehdi Vosoughnia
November 2019
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