Shadi Ghadirian’s photography takes conflicting visual signifiers and drags them into ironic yet subtly unnerving relationships with the viewer. Born in 1974 in Tehran, Iran, Ghadirian emerged in 2000 among a generation of photographers prepared to tackle the confusing reality of a woman’s place in contemporary Iran and to play with understandings of the region. She has exhibited widely, participating in biennales in Russia, Sharjah (UAE); solo exhibitions in the US and India, and prestigious group shows including ‘Unveiled, New Art From the Middle East’ at the Saatchi Gallery, London, and the touring Word Into Art exhibition at The British Museum and DIFC, Dubai.
Read MoreBy placing objects of war into scenes of domestic harmony, Ghadirian’s Nil-Nil comments on the disparity between these two worlds. Some are haunting, such as the bloodstained boots discarded alongside an equally blood red set of high heel shoes, while others veer into absurdity, like the bullets that sit in a make up purse.
Like Everyday is a series of photographs depicting anonymous chador-wrapped figures with kitchen utensils instead of faces. This simple, ominous collision of potent symbols – the veil and domesticity –parodies stereotypical understanding of women of the region and universally. Qajar is a recreation of the photographic compositions and styles of the studio portraits that flourished in the Qajar dynasty, who ruled Iran from 1794-1925. With fierce monobrows and period dress, Ghadirian’s models mimic the photography of that time against a painted background. But clear intrusions of modernity surface in the work, in the form of ghetto blasters and television sets. She lives and works in Tehran.
