Statement:
Iranian photographer and visual artist Babak Haghi invites us, in a new solo exhibition, to his powerful world of images that speak out their silences so vividly but calmly and so quietly but loudly. Persistent gazes of the artist behind the camera and those of his models in front of the camera attain as a result a meditative state of spiritual Permanence.
One finds in both classical and modern Persian literature the name of Simorgh, a mythical Persian bird. As early as 12th century an Iranian Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar writes about a pilgrim birds of the world in search of their king, as they have none. Each of those birds represent a human fault which prevents man from experiencing enlightenment. In the end that group of thirty birds find a dwelling place of Simorgh, a lake in which they see their own reflections. Simorgh is a metaphor for God in Sufi mysticism.
Babak Haghi captures the authenticity with an almost divine quality of the chosen charismatic models in front of his camera, whose images are further on processed in his home studio via Cyanotype print, Vandyke print, Salt print and print with wooden glue. As a result, we have the alternative photo prints that cut deep with their powerful sincerity into all our senses.
Few centuries after the Iranian Sufi poet, another powerful story was produced in England, a novel “Orlando: A Biography”, written by Virginia Woolf in 1928. The story takes us through the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history. It all begins in the Elizabethan era, when shortly before her death Queen Elizabeth I commands a young nobleman named Orlando not to fade or grow old, despite the struggles with love and his place in the world. It is the longest and most charming love letter in literature, from the author Virginia Woolf to her friend and lover Vita Sackville-West, in which she explores Vita, in and out of the centuries, moving her from one sex to the other, while playing with her and putting at the same time a veil of mystery over her.
This dialogue between the spirituality of the 12th century story and veil of mystery of 20th century story, beautifully merges together in each and one of the unforgettable visual narratives of the art of Babak Haghi. Seems like his models are the real Heroes of today’s world which is always struggling between the world of yesterday and the world of tomorrow. Whether there are facial reflections in the lake or preserved youth across the centuries, Babak Haghi’s work underlines the importance of individuality through spiritual uniqueness affiliated with a higher realms of consciousness – the Divinity within ourselves. The almost therapeutic effect of his images suggests a possibility of a better world in which there is no judging, evaluation, condemnation and above all there is no fear and even one level higher – there is no fear of fear.
Babak Haghi has a mission to remove the obstacles created by centuries of human fear of imperfections that when not accepted often become dangerous faults, as represented by those thirty birds in a poem from a 12th century. Nine centuries later nothing much has changed.
Art is still a vehicle of human attempt to enter a state of pure hope for a better version of ourselves.
The words of Alain de Botton in his book “Art as Therapy” summaries this idea of not only art reflecting life, but actually the importance of life reflecting art:
“We should fight to attain in reality the things art merely symbolizes, however graciously and intently. The ultimate goal of the art lover should be to build a world where works of art have become a little less necessary”.
Hopefully that kind of Persistence will lead towards a much better version of Permanence in Human Nature.
