In Zanjir, Amak Mahmoodian feels that the dead are alive again

Interview with Melissa Chemam

for WhyNow

Amak Mahmoodian interacts photographs of her family with Iranian archival material by asking her subjects to put another photo over their face to act as a mask or by using mirroring effects. Melissa Chemam walked with her in between her photographic creations to discuss her work and her personal journey.

link: https://whynow.co.uk/read/amak-mahmoodian-zanjir-iran-arnolfi-gallery-bristol/

You have photographed Iran and Iranian people for more than a decade whilst working on research projects about historical photo archives in Iran. In the meantime, having settled in England, you haven’t been able to go back to your home country because of political pressure. What does a project like Zanjir coming out here in West mean for you?

With photography, you are retracing the past but in a way you are also creating new traces for the ones who are coming after you. For me, the message of this show was that mask could be any of us.

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Interview continues here:

link: https://whynow.co.uk/read/amak-mahmoodian-zanjir-iran-arnolfi-gallery-bristol/