Dwellings
Mina Zarfsaz . نزدیک، اما دور (Close, yet far) . 2013
detail
Mina Zarfsaz . ... و الف، ب (and A,B, ...) . 2013
detail
Mina Zarfsaz . اوج (Plateau) . 2013
detail
Like nature, a letter, too, is an initiation, the latter being a metaphor for commencement. Landscapes are expressive, especially when our internal scenery coincides with nature. The languages of both scenes interact, each pulling the foreign but familiar language from the other. Here, nature is translated into our vernacular, its empathy actualized.
Additionally, this series of photographs is a unique cultural testament to the past two decades of the Iranian government’s igonarance of a natural and international matter: the largest lake in the Middle East, Lake Urmia,
is abandoned to dry. A series of protests and rallies in Iranian Azerbaijan demand action to save Lake Urmia, but they are continually oppressed by the government.
is abandoned to dry. A series of protests and rallies in Iranian Azerbaijan demand action to save Lake Urmia, but they are continually oppressed by the government.
In And A,B,... I use the alphabet because, like Lake Urmia, the alphabet has a beginning and end. This lake is my origin, but the lake is dying, which reminds me of death. Close Yet Far conveys a similar truth, but shows a
limit to the distance between the beginning and end. Plateau points at the arbitrary experience of being at the top. For each person, the top has a different meaning.