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Project/Program <br />Summary <br />My focus since returning to my motherland in 2017 has been to <br />bridge a gap between the two cultures that hav e formed me. W ith <br />ev ery new series of trav els & photographic expeditions, I seek out <br />the underexplored & less rev ealed people & places of Iran. Looking <br />through my catalog of ov er 150000 photos from the past two years, I <br />began focusing on the unique and colorful traditional garb of Iranian <br />women in different regions. In a country where religious law, tradition, <br />climate, & function dictate clothing, beauty oftentimes is expressed <br />through garments, as faces and hair are usually cov ered up. <br />In the traditional Iranian v iew, the ideal society was one in which <br />women were confined to the home, performing the v arious domestic <br />tasks associated with managing a household and rearing children. <br />Men worked in the public sphere, that is, in the fields, factories, <br />bazaars, & offices. W hile that is no longer the present state of affairs, <br />outside of urban centers & particularly in rural areas, the tradition of <br />wearing hand-sewn, bright-colored, & bejeweled dress remains, <br />wov en into the fabric of different ethnicities & tribes. <br />This exhibition will highlight just that, a v ariegated, particolored <br />passage through the rainbow of traditional cloth. Persian, Arab, <br />Kurdish, Baluch, Turkemen, & Bandari worn fabrics & patterns will <br />each be spotlighted, with people photographed both in their daily <br />liv es as well as non-traditional settings. The photographs for the <br />exhibition will draw from nev er before seen selections from my recent <br />work, as well as what my extended upcoming treks to the region <br />produce. <br />As an example, I secured permission through religious organizations <br />to shoot women inside Nasir-ol-Molk, the famed pink mosque of <br />Shiraz. I receiv ed the only such permit in 2021. As of last month, any <br />form of photography or filmography is no longer allowed there. This <br />year, I will be trav eling to the coastline hugging the Gulf of Oman, to <br />trav erse the prov ince of Sistan v a Baluchestan, up to the outlaw <br />lands near the porous border of Pakistan. Famed for arresting desert <br />landscapes, secluded beaches, & at times opium smugglers, the <br />area is also home to liv ely & striking tribes, famed not only for their <br />ways of life, but also their warm, southern hospitality. <br />The guiding philosophy & the impetus for this exhibition is twofold. <br />First, through sharing photographs & stories from a misunderstood <br />side of our planet I hope to dispel preconceiv ed ideas of life seldom <br />shared with a western audience. Second, I want to insert the v iewer <br />into a world poles apart, & allow them to draw comparisons with their <br />own quotidian routines. W e all seek familiarity, & I use the medium of <br />photographic storytelling to deliv er that. I hope my displayed works <br />strip away all artifice & allow the v iewers to see my nativ e land as it is, <br />in all its complexity & history. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 56EA2246-15D8-494C-9A44-12571508888E