© Mitra Tabrizian
At the Wapping Project Bankside 65a Hopton Street, nearest tube Southwark or London Bridge SE1 London France
This Autumn, The Wapping Project Bankside is delighted to exhibit British-Iranian photographer and film-maker Mitra Tabrizian’s previously unseen series Another Country (2010). Born in Tehran, Tabrizian has recently had solo exhibition at Tate Britain (2008) and Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2006). Forthcoming exhibitions include Light from the Middle East at the Victoria and Albert Museum (November 2012) and her new book (Another Country) was published by Hatje Cantz in March 2012.Tabrizian’s work explores a range of issues including post-colonial theory, corporate culture in the West and the recent cultural and political shifts in Iranian society.
Blurring the boundary between fact and fiction and combining documentary techniques with those of film, Tabrizian produces meticulously choreographed photographic scenes of condensed narratives. This exhibition brings together the complete series Another Country (2010) for the first time in the UK, alongside the monumental Untitled (2009), and focuses on the idea of homeland, the emergence of hybrid cultural identities in the context of globalization and the politics of everyday life for Muslim communities from the Middle East in the UK.
from the series Another Country, © 2010Mitra Tabrizian
Another Country (2010) is a series of 8 large-scale group and individual portraits showing real people: immigrants who have come to Europe from the Middle East or North Africa, and their children, some of whom were born in the UK. The individuals appear invariably lost in thought, in space and frozen in time, perhaps caught between their present circumstances and a certain desire to return. The scenes are shot in everyday settings – a school, a café, a cemetery, but the geographic location remains ambiguous. Where is here? “In this context, which challenges the polarity of identifications, the title ‘Another Country’ no longer refers to some other country out there, but to a culture within, or more accurately to the past” says the artist.
From the series, Another Country, 2010 © Mitra Tabrizian
Untitled (2009) is a monumental photograph capturing a group of young Iranian students. Gathered in a desertic landscape, the figures occupy an uncomfortable middle distance in the picture; too far from the objective to be identifiable portraits, yet too close to be background figures. The result is a strange sense of stillness and isolation, imbued with silent confrontation.
As it happens, Untitled (2009) was shot shortly before the protests disputing the results of the 2009 Iranian presidential election broke out.
About Mitra Tabrizian
Born in Tehran, Iran, Mitra Tabrizian lives and works in London. Recent solo exhibitions include Tate Britain in 2008, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden in 2006 and Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany in 2003. Recent publications include Correct Distance (Corner House publications) with an introduction by Griselda Pollock; Beyond the Limits (Steidl 2004) with an introduction by Stuart Hall and Another Country (Hatje Cantz, 2012) with a foreword by Homi Bhabha.
Her photographs and films are held in major public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Arts Council of England Collection; ICA Boston, Queensland Art Gallery; Australia, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum Folkwang, Essen and Musée d'Art Moderne, Luxembourg.
Untitled, 2009 © Mitra Tabrizian
Photos et Vignette © Mitra Tabrizian