Mohammad Ghazali
Where the Heads of
the Renowned Rest
22 April–11 May 2011
16 Barforoushan Alley
Iranshahr Str., Karimkhan Zand Str.
15836 Tehran, Iran.
T (+9821) 22 60 72 84
assarartgallery [at] gmail.com
info [at] assarartgallery.com
From without to within I have come
Not in the form of a butterfly,
Not in the form of a stone,
Not in the form of an ocean
I have been borne in the form of us
In the glorious form of humankind…
‘On the Threshold’ by Ahmad Shamlou*
Assar Art Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the Where the Heads of the Renowned Rest, a solo exhibition of Mohammad Ghazali’s photographs on April 22, 2011.
Exhibited previously by Assar Art Gallery at the 2009 edition of Paris Photo with special focus on the Arab and Iranian photography curated by Catherine David, the series aims to look at Tehran from the point of view of its public statues, the statues of renowned historic personalities of the country that are installed in various locations around the city. These national figures, each with their own unique and individual outlook on life have somehow granted themselves immortality within Iran’s historic and cultural memory. They are remembered by their attributes and stories and they have become chants high atop many people’s rules of life.
This exhibition is the artist’s personal showcase of his curious search for trying placing himself instead of another “self”, even for a moment, looking at our life in the city through the eyes of the old and the famous and to get a glimpse of how we could have been perceived should these people were to be really staring at us. The result is a set of moody images that somehow stand and project to us something of the nation’s past and present.
Mohammad Ghazali was born in 1980 and received a BA in photography from Iran’s Azad University in 2004. His work titled “Self-portrait” won him the first place prize at the 9th International Photography Biennale of Tehran of the same year that earned him special attention within the Iranian photographer’s circle. In his works, Ghazali conceptually documents reality, he never uses models or adds any external elements to his subjects or the settings he chooses to work on, rather he re-defines what he sees through his camera and the technical photographic experiments he takes pleasure in experiencing.
This exhibition will be the first ever held in Iran where the entire collection is made using the diasec on dibond printing technique. The show will run until 11th of May 2011.
* Ahmad Shamlou (Dec 1925–Jul 2000) was one of the most influential modern poets of Iran.
