Fazilat Soukhakian is an Iranian artist, photographer and scholar who is currently an Associate Professor of Photography at Utah State University. She started her career as a photojournalist in Iran and became one of its very few female photojournalists in a highly patriarchal society. She moved to the United States in 2011 and received her Master of Fine Arts degree and her Ph.D in Architectural History from the University of Cincinnati. She is a visual storyteller who reflects on the social and political issues of her surroundings as a means for social change and justice. Her work revolves around depicting the stories of bravery and strength of those marginalized by society, highlighting the act of overcoming struggle and inspiring others.
She is an award-winning photographer and has been exhibited internationally in over fifty venues including museums, galleries and photographic festivals. Her work is in special collections and archive of the following: State of Utah Alice Merrill Horne Collection, the Rare Books Collection, part of Special Collections at the J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, Snow College Karen H. Huntsman Library, Special Collections,Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University,Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah,Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah Archives and Special Collections at Jen Library.
Exhibition: Virtual Metaverse Gallery of FotoEvidence; Queer in Utah; https://www.soukhakian.com/press
PL: As a photographer dealing with social justice issue, having being born in Iran, how did you come to produce the series, “Queer in Utah”?
As a photographer dealing with social justice issues who was born and raised in Iran; a country that still punishes the LGBTQ+ with the death penalty, I always felt extremely helpless that I was not able to reflect on this issue to showcase the challenges that my queer friends and community in Iran, were dealing with (the risk was too high). Once I moved to the United States, I was shocked to find out that the LGBTQ+ community in certain regions of America is going through similar struggles of discrimination. Although it is a completely different region and culture, the underlying problems and struggles remain the same. Here, I felt compelled to highlight this issue in an effort to inspire change.
PL: What are the challenges the LGBT community faces in Utah, and what were your challenges?
Within the state of Utah, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) is omnipresent. The social framework of the LDS Church has resulted in a path of dilemmas and self-doubt for many people looking to make the hard decision of whether to act on their desires and sexuality. This has created many instances of depression, attempted suicides, and homelessness among the young LGBTQ+ community in Utah. The “Queer in Utah” project was started after witnessing people from my new community in Utah struggle with depression, sometimes even injury by self-infliction. Friends that had to choose between their faith and desires. This is rooted in a system of self-doubt from a clash where faith and sexual orientation can’t seem to harmonize. At the onset of this project, I was unsure if I was out of bounds to speak on this issue since I do not identify as queer, nor am I LDS. I had to dive into research and spoke to many people to see if I understood the struggle of the local Queer community correctly. Now, looking back, I am very glad that I moved forward with this project.
PL: What was your objective in producing the work,” Queer in Utah”? what has been the response? How was the series viewed, as Utah is a conservative state?
My photographs simply portray these beautiful people in their pursuit of love in a society that considers their identity and desire to be something to feel guilty about, yet they resist in their own individual ways. I can only hope that, by sharing these stories, it inspires others in similar situations not to lose hope and to feel empowered towards their own love pursuits. Ideally, I hope to contribute a small part towards the normalization of the LGBTQ+ community in the conservative setting of Utah with this project. This project is evolving as the Queer community in Utah’s situation is changing due to the fight of this community and the many activists working towards a better future.
Currently, the series is on view at the Metaverse Gallery of FOTOEVIDENCE, where the project has been well received and viewed by many people from across the world, which is amazing. I am working towards having this project exhibited worldwide and across the state of Utah. I hope to exhibit as widely as possible, but especially locally within the state, In the hope of bringing awareness and feelings of empathy toward an understanding of the struggle. As you mentioned, because of the conservative nature of Utah, exhibiting this project might be a bit challenging. But nevertheless, It is a very important time to highlight this subject, as the LDS church has recently backed a bill that supports same-sex marriage. I believe now is the time to push harder for real change to happen.
PL: What are you hoping to do with this work, and what are you working on currently?
I am currently working on preparing this project, and a couple of other recent projects for some solo and group shows with the previously mentioned goals in mind. I am also researching and developing a new photography project that I am hoping to share in a few months.
” As a photographer dealing with social justice issues, born and raised in Iran; the country that still punishes the LGBTQ+ with the death penalty, I always felt extremely helpless that I was not able to reflect on this issue to showcase the challenges that my queer friends and community in Iran, were dealing with (the risk was too high).
After moving to the USA, I was shocked to find out that the LGBTQ+ community in certain regions of the United States goes through similar struggles and challenges of discrimination and suppression. The “Queer in Utah” project was started after witnessing people from my new community in Utah struggle with depression, sometimes even injury by self-infliction. Friends that had to choose between their faith and desires, all rooted in a system of self-doubt from a clash where faith and sexual orientation can’t seem to harmonize.
I started this project in 2019, and this month the project will have its first exhibition in the hope of bringing more awareness around this topic to the public. I hope the project can help towards a broader understanding of the struggles and desires of the LGBTQ+ community, especially in Utah.
The social framework of the LDS Church has resulted in a path of dilemmas and self-doubt for many people looking to make the hard decision of whether to act on their desires and sexuality. This has created many instances of depression, attempted suicides, and homelessness among the young LGBTQ+ community in Utah.
It is a very important time to highlight this subject as the LDS church has recently backed a bill that supports same sex marriage. I believe now is the time to push harder for real change to happen.” Fazilat Soukhakian
Patricia Lanza
