AMAK MAMOODIAN WORKFLOW AND PRACTICE ON ARCHIVE, IDENTItY AND HOME.

19.03.21

Every 2 weeks I have a one to one with Richard or Yan photography lectures to discuss work and wellbeing regarding the MA, this week I presented Richard my portfolio from the formative submission. The portfolio included photographs, experimental work and reaserch into key element such as personas , looking and family.

Richard shared with me a talk delivered by Artist Amak mamoodian who has a ethic approach to her work around her family back in Iran. Amak raised questions around identity and home with a sense of personal and political.Through Her work she explored effects on distance of memory, dreams and daily life, working with images poem and archives.

Amak began talking about our memory’s, family and home that belong to us, she stated that ‘when memories begin to fade its our responsibility to bring them alive again by sharing. Sometimes memories are held within photographs the remind us what happends in the past and what exits in the present. In a place and time when past and present meet, they marry to create a new narrative’ (A, Mahmoodian, 2021)

Shenasnameh (2007-2010) was a photo book that showed many Iranian women (figure 1 )who all appeared to look the same in their physical appearance. Shenasnameh is the official name for birth certificate in Iran, Mahmoodian states that although he certificate is valid for life the photograph has to be updates to keep up t standards.

Amak explains that the books idea begin when Amak was in a waiting room holding her mothers and her own birth certificate . Mamoodian began looking at the photographs of her mother and self ans how they were alike, but then their finger prints were taken and placed next to their image and alought the photo was similar the print were not. Despite this work being extremely personal Amak was advised not to got back to Iran due to the political aspect of her work.

Figure 1

After being speerated form her family Amak had conversations and meetings with her family though photographs. Looking at the photograph show’s the earliest conversation and connection built to form relationship with family. Amak started her research by looking at the king of Iran family archives kept in a museum in Iran. this then produced her most recent work from 2002-2020 Zanjir.

Amak makes a statement in her talk that performance is the connection between past and present, this lead me to think of the ink performance I did with my dad and he wrote the words ‘stolen time’, The child like performance with the ink drawing depicted what we has missed out in the past. Amak used the archival material from the Kings family album and placed them as a mask over people she spent her life with as they were her present. She concealed their identity by hafinger them hold archival images over their face.

Figure 2 Figure 3

Amak workflow through out her work appears to be studying the archival material, history and past around her subject matter of home, family, archive and identity. She spent a whole year photographing people who she knew in their home environment using the archival images as masks. As a key element to Amak’s work was the representation in the archival material of Iran women in their personal albums to public. After a year of doing so she stepped out side to photograph new people in public with the Archival images as mask. She built up conversation around them and their identity. Between 2008 till 2012 separated into public and private domain images. She then went onto other project around identity and image construction.

The next stage in Amaks work flow was when she was approached by a publisher in Regard to working on a second book Zanjir. She stated she was nieve in believing the edit and sequencing from this book would be easier after 10 years of being separated from them and home. She also admits feeling lost and confused with her work as she recognised the faces of her phoothtaohs but not their identity and who they belonged to. She refered back to a book from following up from the kings writing accompanying the archival material. Amak began reading the text again while editing her photograph and re connecting with the images, remembering their identity and who the women were.

Figure 4

The workflow doesn’t always go smooth and happen in a straight line, it was clear from Amaks talk reinforced that the workflow and path way along a project can go back and forth many times to allow new ideas and thaught process to be seen.

Amak places poems within her book to accompany her images in public and private place but the poem demonstrates her memory of conversations with the people she knew and loved.

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Reference List

Mahmoodian , A. (2021). Amak Mahmoodian . Amak Mahmoodian . https://amakmahmoodian.co.uk

Figure List

Figure 1 Mahmoodian, A. (2007-2010). Shenasnameh . [photograph]

https://amakmahmoodian.co.uk/Shenasnameh

Figure 2 Mahmoodian, A. (2002-2020). Zanjir. [photograph]- https://amakmahmoodian.co.uk/Zanjir

Figure 3 Mahmoodian, A. (2002-2020). Zanjir. [photograph] - https://amakmahmoodian.co.uk/Zanjir

Figure 4 Mahmoodian, A. (2002-2020). Zanjir. [photograph] - https://amakmahmoodian.co.uk/Zanjir