The Interior: A Special Issue on Iran, a group show and printed quarterly comprised of 14 established and upcoming Iranian photographers, working within and outside Iran.
The theme for the issue, titled The Interior, is derived from a cinema and screen-writing term, which is used to separate outdoor and indoor scenes. The photographs investigate notions of amnesia, censorship and identity through documentary, as well as staged formats. The photographers associate closely with a cultural bipolarity – living a double life due to societal pressure – thereby articulating their private lives and hopes in staged form. The ideas underlying the works range from encounters with the state, to a re-assessment of one’s personal life – an aspect that mirrors the desires of a society, constrained to limit its freedom(s) of expression due to political anxiety and cultural history. Hence, these abstract boundaries between the ‘exterior’ – ones projected role as a citizen; and ‘interior’ – ones creative life embodies the core of the issue.
The Special Features includes two photographers (Mahdieh Mirhabibi and Majid Saeedi) who have left the fold of Iranian society to become practitioners in countries that have been marred by conflict, namely in Somalia and Afghanistan. Images range from documentary and fictional narratives, to art photography. As a whole, the issue seeks to show Iran's connection with South Asian countries by dealing with varying aspects of democracy.
The photographers featured include: Azadeh Akhlaghi, Kaveh Baghdadchi, Arash Fesharaki, Babak Kazemi, Dariush Kiani, Mahdieh Mirhabibi, Ata Mohammadi, Reza Nadji, Ali Nadjian & Ramyar Manouchehrzadeh, Majid Saeedi, Mehrdad Asgari Tari, Nikoo Tarkhani and Gholam Reza Yazdan.
The texts featured are by: Azadeh Akhlaghi, Mehrdad Afsari, Tooraj Khamenehzadeh, Meena Kandasamy, Deepankar Khiwani, Monica Mody, Mehdi Moghimnejad, Ehsan Rasoulof, Sara Reyhani, Rahul Soni, Saleh Tasbihi and Newsha Tavakolian.
PIX is a photography quarterly that seeks not only to present photography in temporal, spatial or historical terms, but also in personal, self-conscious and aesthetic ways. PIX also seeks to investigate and engage with broad and expansive fields of contemporary photographic practice in India and outside, ranging from the application, conceptual standing and adaptability of photography to its subjects: its movement, transmission, appropriation and distinct relation to the allied arts.
The PIX team is Rahaab Allana, Nandita Jaishankar, Tanvi Mishra, Kaushik Ramaswamy, and the LUCIDA Collective.
Opening reception: Thursday, 23 January 2014, 6.00 pm onwards
24 January – 18 February 2014
11 am - 7 pm daily except Sundays and public holidays
Galerie Max Mueller, Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan Mumbai
Associated events:
Presentation: Introducing PIX – A Photography Quarterly
On Thursaday, 23 January 2014 at 6.00 pm
Seminar: Frameworks – Positions and Practices in Photography
On 15 and 16 February 2014
