Fatemeh Mir-Bomani is a multimedia artist and a painting graduate. A significant part of her work explores the role of women within family settings, social gatherings, and, more recently, public spaces. Her focus is often on past experiences, particularly pre-1979 revolution Iran. In her recent projects, she revisits visual memory and female narratives by creatively working on old photographs and negatives. This innovative approach has drawn attention from multiple art events, including the Beijing Digital Art Competition, where she was recognized for her work.
The Creative Process
At first glance, using photographs as the foundation of my work might seem like a form of cheating. However, for me, photography is merely the starting point—the moment that is captured and transformed into a spark for creation. The first time I was struck by this was when I saw my parents napping on the couch in the afternoon, bathed in sunlight. That scene evoked a deep sense of life; a fleeting moment we often overlook, yet it is, in essence, life itself in motion.
My passion for photography has been with me since I was fifteen, evolving over time. Initially, I played no role in directing the figures in my images, but gradually, I began guiding my subjects, asking them to pose in ways that brought them closer to a state of carefree slumber. Eventually, a question arose in my mind: what if even the act of taking the photograph was out of my hands?
This question led me to explore negatives. I began with my family's negatives—images of people I knew, moments and places I was familiar with. A crucial aspect of film photography is its limitation: each roll typically allows only 36 shots, which means every captured frame must have held significance. This approach stands in stark contrast to our modern world, where we take hundreds of digital photos with a single tap, rarely revisiting or valuing those moments.
After working with family negatives, I turned to even older ones, seeking a clearer glimpse into the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s—decades that have received little visual attention. Scenes like a woman in a suit standing near Persepolis or a passerby in Naqsh-e Jahan Square are unique moments that happened only once, yet they continue to exist through these negatives.
But the process does not stop there. After finding the negatives, I scan them manually, edit the lighting and contrast, and sometimes restore colors to bring the image closer to the final vision I have in mind. Once printed, the final stage begins: adding my own narrative through drawing. This is where the past and present merge, allowing old photographs to take on new life.
Most of these images have no living narrators. Perhaps everyone in them has passed away. Yet sometimes, by chance, someone recognizes a face and adds a new story to the image. My current focus is on discovering old and deteriorating negatives—giving them new life, reviving moments once captured but perhaps never truly seen. It is an act of bringing light back to the fragments of time hidden in the darkness of film.
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