Malekeh Nayiny is one of the most prominent Iranian photographers of our time. Nayiny left Iran to study but was unable to return home when the Iranian Revolution struck. She was finishing up her BFA at Syracuse University in New York when her family advised her to stay abroad. She enrolled in an Advanced Photography Course at the International Center of Photography and later continued her studies in Paris where she currently resides.
Updating a Family Album consists of digitally re-worked family photographs and is Malekeh Nayiny’s most well-known series of works to date. The original family photographs were taken before the Iranian Revolution (1979). The women in her family appear to wear voluminous hairstyles and are bare-legged. Nayiny integrates western landscapes, postal stamps, accessories, and colour into the images, a gesture that assimilates her own biography. Her experimental practice continuously refers to her present surroundings as they relate, or rather clash with, the history of her country. Her family history, memory, and personal insights are integral to her practice. Her works put forward an intimate insight into the disconnected cultural influences of her upbringing in and outside Iran.
Updating a Family Album romanticises a place that never was.
Malekeh Nayiny : Updating a Family Album
01.09. – 29.10.2022
Opening hours: Thu. – Sat., 2 – 6 pm
CHAUSSEE 36 Photo Foundation
Chausseestr. 36
10115 Berlin, Germany
www.chaussee36.photography
