Navid Haghighi Mood
MFA ’18 Photography
I explore the delicate interplay between past and future, encapsulated through the lens of personal and collective history. I am using the historical method of salted prints as a poignant metaphor for the passage of time.
These prints, characterized by their tendency to fade over decades, echo the ephemeral nature of memory and history. By employing this early technique, I establish a dialogue with the past, acknowledging the roots of the medium while highlighting its temporal fragility.
In a series of self-portraits, my body becomes a canvas, bridging the gap between my present self and my homeland, Iran. I project a landscape onto my body, creating a visual dialogue between my physical presence and the geographical and emotional landscape of my origins. This visual integration speaks to the sense of displacement and longing that comes with being away from home. During the process, I selectively brush areas of image with photo sensitizer materials to reveal specific parts of the body and landscape. This technique results in prints where only chosen segments are visible that reflects the transient nature of memory and history.
In this diptych, one print has been intentionally treated to last a bit less long than the other. The inherent fading raises questions about preservation and loss, about what we choose to remember and what we allow to fade away.
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