CCLaP Photographer Feature: Noushin Arefadib

Chicago Center for Literature and Photography Photographer Feature October 10, 2013

Noushin Arefadib

Noushin Arefadib is an Iranian Australian photographer, poet, activist, and dedicated global trotter. These photographs were inspired by my work and travels in India and Sri Lanka. Most of the photographs reflect the daily lives and spirit of people, particularly children and women in South Asia. My work and art have for the most part been inspired by the essence, courage, and struggle of people and a lot of the way that I see the world is shaped by that which inspires me. I am grateful for the opportunity to share my world with you, through my lens.

Sometimes your subjects seem happy to be having their photo taken, and someimes they seem wary. What goes into the process of taking pictures of strangers on the street there in south Asia? Often times I found that people were very curious about my curiosity in them and it was through this mutual interest that we made our initial connection. I would ask people if it was okay for me to take photographs of them and would then show them the photos I had captured. However, sometimes I would see things from a far or captured in the faces of people who were asleep or uninterrupted in their own reality that I desperately wanted to capture. In these instances, I would take a shot without them being aware of me. This often makes me feel like a thief in the night, but I feel that there is no other way to capture a photograph that reveilles a moment of vulnerability or private thought when the person becomes aware or conscious of the camera. But where possible, I would always approach people and ask for permission into their worlds.

What’s been the biggest surprise now about traveling in this area of the world? Is it mostly how you expected things to be? I think my biggest moment of surprise was coming into the realization that a lot of us in the West, including myself, really romanticize this idea of struggle in South Asia. Personally, I expected to live and work in South Asia and take in what the West projects as the crazy beautiful energy and dynamics of life here. But after only one month, it hit me that romanticized notions of poverty, aid, the human condition, chaos and so on, were for the most part just that: romanticizations! In reality, living here, especially for those who are at the bottom of the food chain (women and children in poverty) is a daily battle and sometimes even a nightmare; and being a part of that, even as an observer, is a very challenging and confronting reality. Yes it is beautiful; yes it is bright and the colors are intoxicatingly delicious; yes there is so much energy that it can shift your perspective on life; But it is also sad, frightening, shocking, heartbreaking, and devastating. For those of us who came here to take pretty photos and “help� poverty reduction, it has been a very loud and very clear wakeup call.

arefadibnoushin@gmail.com cclapcenter.com/features