Preserved Sector

by: Marjan Khorram Golkaran , May 22, 2019

My interest in nature is rooted in my childhood. It was during that time that I first became aware of and sensitive to the nature around me. This development in my young, conscious mind might have been prompted by the traditions of Iranian culture, which is in and of itself derived from and reliant on the natural world. At that time, I also lived in the almost untouched landscape of northern Iran. With the development of industry and technology, people of our modern age have become careless and ignorant with regard to the natural world and its resources. Since all of us live on the same planet, these cumulative damages affect the entire earth and lead to the extinction of various plants and animal species. In response to this, I began a series of works which I have been expanding on for years now.

Alongside the concern for nature, I am also vitally concerned with political and social issues. Initially, my collection of images centred on nature and took a formalistic approach. This is a part of what I showcase below. Gradually, as I attended to environmental damage, it turned from a purely formalist exercise into a critical one. My early works from the series are rooted in Iranian traditions and culture, such as carpet and cloth weaving. Likewise, the collage and the art of paper cutting used in the colour pieces pertain to one of the oldest bookbinding traditions in Iran. This project has subsequently progressed into using newer forms of media, as I started to examine the effects of developing technological industries.

What I wish to portray in my work is a certain perspective on landscapes deserted by human beings and their effect on the Earth. My images are at once utopian, silent and empty. Through these tensions, I wish to explore in a tangible form the balance between existence and absence, as well as their limitations. Media, in its various guises, does not present a comprehensive perspective, but rather a highly selective and aestheticised view of facts. To challenge dominant, global representations, I aim to create images that are not uniform or homogenous. In the past, the materials, which I use and which inspire me, such as carpets, rugs and books were also considered to be forms of contemporary media. Today, new media and their correlative virtual spaces are equally as powerful. By bringing the past and the present together, I try to address this change, or a paradigm shift, between the ancient and the modern and the resulting impact on the landscape and the environment that sustains our human existence.