PORTFOLIO by
SHAHRAM SAADAT shahramss@hotmail.co.uk
www.shahramsaadat.eu
march
2014
Contents 4 days Watermark
VISIONS of Paris
4 days I compiled this collection in an attempt to explore the everyday lives of people in the Medina of Fez. At the time of my visit, the Arab Spring was erupting throughout the Arab World. Rather than join the rush to depict violence and chaos, I decided to concentrate on the ‘side shows’. I think the collection tells its own story, and its one again of a different time trajectory to the one experienced in the modern world. These individuals live lives relatively unchanged for hundreds of years, in an environment similar to Venice in as much as it is
not expected or encouraged to change, since the modern world now requires that it remains a living museum; only the viewer can decide on the thoughts behind the faces, and whether the prospect of change and revolution would be welcomed.
WATERMARK In Venice, the water has left its mark on everything; even on the large buildings like The Doge’s Palace – it’s as if they have been created in spite of the lagoon in which they stand. Moving around the city, by land and by sea, over five days, I began to realise that this is a place made up out of in-between spaces – canals, plazas, bridges, lines of washing, tiny alleyways only just big enough to get the shoulders through....and once the brief winter is over, people’s lives spill out from their homes behind barred windows and heavy doors, onto the streets full of cafes and spectacle. And nothing is ever far away from a boat ride – like taxis – linking
the many islands that make up one ancient city state. The effect of this city on the senses is mesmerising; reflections are everywhere, distorting the once presumed sense of reality, and the ghosts of ancient inhabitants can be felt in every shadow cast by the sun as it works its way into the narrowest and tallest of the endless network of secretive passages. The title ‘watermark’ suggests a visible stain left by water; in the case of Venice – the resulting mark is not a stain but a vision – beautiful – disturbing – turning on its head the normal order of things.
VISIONS OF PARIS In assembling this collection of photographs, my initial aim has been to explore an interest in the urban image, and the notion that ‘to photograph something is to create a relationship between me and the object or person photographed’. Susan Sontag explained in her 1979 essay ‘In Plato’s Cave’ that this action ‘feels like knowledge and therefore like power’, but I prefer the idea that a photographer simply collects pieces of the world that he or she finds himself inhabiting, in order to make sense of all that is out there. This is not really power – since anyone can make the same kind of collection – but it is knowledge of a kind, since looking at the jigsaw of a city like Paris – and creating images from seemingly inconsequential happenings and moments – helps the image maker come to terms with the environment and see it in ways that maybe have more meaning once photographed.
I am also aware that, although I have attempted to capture reality and simply photograph moments in the life of a teeming city, there is always the battle with choice of image and learned preference for one shot over another. It’s hard to rise above this when it comes to putting a collection together; there is an awareness of a viewer, and wanting to please, or shock. Whatever the outcome, I really like the idea that simple events become immortal through the act of photography; each neat rectangle of light and dark becomes a moment taken from fleeting reality – and is given meaning by the photographer, and by the viewer. This collection pays tribute to every passing person who contributes, even fleetingly, to the energy and daily humdrum of any city.