Gohar Dashti

Gohar Dashti
Born 1980
Ahvaz, Iran)
Nationality Iranian
Education University of Tehran
Known for Photographer
Website Official website

Gohar Dashti (born 1980 in Ahvaz, Iran) is an Iranian photographer and video artist who lives and works in Tehran.[1] The dominant theme in her work is her native country, particularly its unique topography and history of violence.[2]

Her work has traveled internationally and she has had many solo exhibitions. She studied photography at the University of Tehran and graduated with an M.A. in 2005.[3] During her studies and throughout her life, she noticed the impact the Iran-Iraq War had on her country. Though the war ended in 1988, the country is still in the process of rebuilding. Dashti's earlier work looks at the lasting marks that were caused by the war, not only at the violence but also at the stories of the people and the land. In this way, she is considered to be a conflict photographer, but her work contrasts with the stark photojournalism that often is produced to represent the effect that war has on a country and its people.[4] In 2017, her practice shifted slightly. Dashti began investigating the natural world and the relationship it has to humans. Though the subject matter differs from her earlier work, her practice at its core is still rooted in her country, its culture and her experiences within these.[5]

Early life

Born in 1980 in Iran, Dashti came into the world at a time when the Iranian Revolution had just ended and the Iran-Iraq War was just beginning. She grew up in Ahvaz which is positioned close to the Iran-Iraq border, causing her life to be very affected by the violence happening just beyond her doorstep.[6] Many families that lived in Iran at the beginning of the war decided to move, to put some distance between themselves and the fighting, but Dashti's family decided to stay. There were many times that she and her family would go up on the roof when there was a pause in the fighting to collect bullets that were left. The family, like many others, were at constant risk of bombings and often the streets would ring loud with the sounds of warning alarms.[4] Her experiences in her childhood and her culture have heavily influenced most aspects of the work she creates as an artist.[6]

Iran-Iraq War

In the year of 1980, Iraq invaded the country of Iran. The countries were at war primarily due to the fact the president of Iraq (at the time), Saddām Hussein wanted to regain control of land that was held by Iran and also sought to acquire new land that was abundant in oil. Because Iran had just formed a new government, Iraq was able to advance on them largely by surprise. Iraq was met by unsuspected strong resistance in the first years of the war. After Iraq decided to retreat and make peace in 1982, Iran's leader Ruhollah Khomeini instead continued the opposition against Iraq in attempts to unhinge their leadership. Iran's attacks were frequent and often young untrained soldiers were forced into fighting.[7]

Additional peace attempts were made by Iraq in the mid-1980s but these were not received well due to their army's use of chemical warfare that caused a significant amount of casualties, including civilians. In 1988 Iraq began to make headway in the war and Iran's economy was starting to fail thus causing them to comply with a cease-fire. The countries agreed on terms to end the long dispute in 1990. Troops returned to their home countries as well as prisoners, with the last prisoners released in 2003. The final losses were great on both sides, though Iran faced more damage and casualties. The war left its mark on both countries and its people with reparations still being made for countless years after.[7]

Selected photography works

Today's Life and War (2008)

Dashti's earlier and most well-known work is Today's Life and War which was featured in multiple exhibitions such as She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World and Subtehran: Subjective Truth from Iran. In this work, Dashti is providing a new perspective on the Iran-Iraq War from the point of view of an Iranian woman. Today's Life and War looks at how civilians lives were affected by the war. The photographs don't only look at the violence and because of this, they defy the mainstream mass of images that depict Iran as a war-torn country. Often Dashti's work is seen as a new type of documentary style, one that breaks the norms and provides a story that the viewer can empathize with.[8]

Part of what makes Dashti's work different from other documentary styles is the creativity she brings to the work. In this work specifically she produces highly stylized staged settings that present a couple, a man and a woman, who are performing daily tasks or celebration but they are positioned amongst the detritus of war.[9] In one image, the couple is seated in a rusted, broken-down car, donning their wedding attire, with the lights of military vehicles blinking in the background. This signifies how individuals are forced to put their life on pause in times of war.[10] Dashti explains that this work shows how war "permeates all aspects of contemporary society,".[8] Blurring the line between fiction and reality she pulls these scenes from stories of Iran and her own experiences. Though the surrealist qualities in the work may first present the viewer with a whimsical scene, it is quickly influenced by the struggle and determination in the work which in turn rationalizes the images.[6] The themes of borders and boundaries are evident in this work and stem from her life in Ahvaz since it is a border community and she was forced to be close to the conflict, being subjected to bombings almost daily. Dashti examines the impacts that war has on people's lives including the emotional labor and psychological burdens that are caused.[9] This work allows an alternative perspective to that of mainstream photojournalism of Iran, and Dashti intends the images to be relatable and from an influential perspective that reaches individuals who haven't experienced this type of adversity.[8]

Iran, Untitled (2013) and Stateless (2014)

Like her previous work, this photography is also situated within conversations of how war affects people. Instead of looking at individuals specifically, she broadens her scope to larger populations and how the war affected Iran as a whole. Though she shot these works at separate times, they are both dealing with similar concepts. The photographs are staged and Dashti makes no effort to hide this with the use of surrealist tendencies in the work. The figures are arranged in their desert landscapes in ways that are uncanny. Often they are positioned with props that one would not normally see in the setting like a mattress, a slide, or a bathtub.[9] Dashti has her models perform a language with their bodies, one that comments on movement from the past and towards the future yet the photographs catch the people in suspension or pause.[9][11] The contradictions between action and pause reflect the modern society Dashti inhabits, and how society in Iran has not found a balance.[9] With this sense of action also comes ideas of location, Dashti is making it evident that the desert represented in these images is not an empty space and neither is the country of Iran.[11]

Humans and nature

The next three works all look at the relationship between humans and nature, they were all completed in the same year and are often shown in exhibitions together.

Home (2017)

This series looks at how nature enters the abandoned homes of Iran, both symbolically and physically. Dashti is commenting on the relationship between nature and humans and how they intersect within these lived spaces.[12] The spaces depicted in these digital photographs were once inhabited by citizens who left the country and yet all evidence of the lives that once lived there are buried. The images depict the taking over of the structures by the plants, and like most of her other work, they are staged. Dashti wants the viewer to consider how humans interact with nature and acknowledge the strength it has.[13] Through her observations of the land that had been emptied by the war in Iran, she wanted to highlight the tenacity of nature after witnessing a fern growing up from the cracks of one of these homes. Dashti commented on this, saying, "It had the power to stay there. Left alone, it would eventually consume and conquer their home." [4] The work combines "the personal, the political and the botanical" and shows how people can come and go, but the land that humans inhabit will always be there, evolving as humans interact with it in various ways.[14]

In creating this work, it made her wonder why her parents had chosen not to flee Iran during the war. Upon asking her father, his response was a concern of protecting his loved ones. He had wanted the family to stick together and because of this, families like hers who stayed were able to help restore the community after the war ended. This series reflects the histories of Iranian families during the time of the war and its physical impacts.[4]

Still Life (2017)

Dashti used cameraless photography techniques such as cyanotypes and photograms to create plant imagery in this work. Unlike most of her work, she moves heavily into abstraction in Still Life and closes in on her organic subject matter. By composing the plants often in disarray, she wants the viewer to be intrigued by the imagery and notice their strangeness because of the fact the plants are decontextualized.[12] Due to the tight framing, the viewer can examine the ways in which Dashti has manipulated the subject matter. The images highlight the textures of the plant material and reveal their repetitive nature and patternings. Often smashing and breaking the material before photographing it, Dashti comments on the beauty of the natural world while also acknowledging the damaging effects humans can have on it. Even though the original images are made in a way that is very hands-on, she alters the prints further by enlarging them and reproducing them digitally which adds to the mechanical and organic relationship in the work.[15]

Alien (2017)

Taking a slightly different turn from previous work, Dashti utilized an instant camera to produce work depicting the forests of New Hampshire. Unlike most landscape photography, this work embraces the imperfections of the medium. They are small in size with an offset border, referencing the Polaroid format. By placing a glass plate in every image, the flash of Dashti's camera is recorded. By adding in this element, Dashti places herself and the viewer in a distanced position from the subject matter and produces a voyeuristic effect. In doing this, she also makes it evident that she is a visitor in the setting.[12] For the first time the landscape of Iran is removed from her subject matter and she is separate from her homeland. The naturally lit spaces oppose the artificial flash in every scene, perhaps signifying the displaced feeling that Dashti has in being in a foreign place. The combination of the light, subject matter, and medium create an uncommon quality to the images and Dashti intends for the photographs to place the viewer into a state of instability.[15]

Solo exhibitions

  • Me, She and The Others, Centre d'art Passerelle, Brest, France (2010)
  • Slow Decay, Silk Road Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2011)
  • Volcano, Silk Road Gallery, Tehran, Iran, (2012)
  • Inside Out, curated by Silvia Cirelli, Officine dell'Immagine, Milan, Italy (2013)
  • Iran,Untitled, Robert Klein Gallery at Are libra, Boston, United States (2014)
  • Volcano and Me, She and the Others, Robert Klein Gallery at Are libra, Boston, United States (2014)
  • Iran, Untitled and Stateless, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2015)
  • Stateless, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Art Gallery, Dartmouth, United States (2016)
  • GOHAR DASHTI, Selected Works, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, Florida, United States (2016)
  • Limbo, Officine Dell'Imagine, Milan, Italy (2016)
  • Stateless, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, United States (2016)
  • Gohar Dashti, Photos 2017, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, United States (2017)
  • Home, Mohsen Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2017)
  • Fragile, Handle with Care, Officine Dell'Imagine, Milan, Italy (2018) [16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gohar Dashti" (in French). Institut des Cultures d’Islam.
  2. ↑ "Gohar Dashti". Artsy. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Biography - Gohar Dashti". Gohar Dashti. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Seymour, Tom (2018-02-20). "Images of homes abandoned during the 1979 Iranian Revolution - 'We go, nature stays'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  5. ↑ Spring, Elin (September 21, 2017). "Gohar Dashti's New Turn!". What Will You Remember?. Retrieved 2018-04-09.
  6. 1 2 3 Dashti, Gohar "Artist’s Concept Note." Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, vol. 13 no. 1, 2017, pp. 141-141. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/648031.
  7. 1 2 "Iran-Iraq War". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  8. 1 2 3 Herd, Colin. "Dismantling Documentary." Aesthetica, no. 69, Feb/Mar2016, pp. 24-29. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.ecuad.ca:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=113064380&site=eds-live.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Gresh, Kristen. "Gohar Dashti's Iran, Untitled." Exposure (00988863), vol. 47, no. 2, Fall2014, pp. 16-23. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.ecuad.ca:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asu&AN=98040043&site=eds-live.
  10. ↑ CHASE, ALISIA GRACE. "She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World." Afterimage, vol. 41, no. 4, Jan/Feb2014, pp. 16-17. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.ecuad.ca:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=93985340&site=eds-live.
  11. 1 2 Mohajer, Mehran. "The Stateless, Placeless Desert - Photographs by Gohar Dashti | LensCulture". LensCulture. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
  12. 1 2 3 Shaikh, Ayesha. "Through The Lens Of Gohar Dashti At Tehran's Mohsen Gallery". Harper's BAZAAR Arabia. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  13. ↑ Harrison, Alice. "The Fate of Abandoned Iranian Homes" Ignant. Feb. 21, 2018. Accessed Mar. 23 2018.
  14. ↑ Moroz, Sarah (2017-08-22). "The Ghostly Beauty of Iran's Overgrown and Abandoned Spaces". AnOther. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  15. 1 2 Spring, Elin (September 21, 2017). "Gohar Dashti's New Turn!". What Will You Remember?. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
  16. ↑ "Gohar Dashti - Biography And Exhibitions". www.officinedellimmagine.com. Retrieved 2018-03-27.
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