” Gariz, aesthetics of pain”
Exhibition of photographs, video art and installation
Bahar Gallery of Iran’s Artists’ house, Tehran, 2012.
Gariz, aesthetics of pain is name of fair which is held by Ehsan Mirhoseyni, young artist from Hormozgan. The fair integrates photography video art and installation in Bahar Gallery of Iran’s Artists’ house, Tehran. The subject is death of more than 12000 kg of Gariz fish in 2010 in Bandar Abbas seashore as a result of different ecological factories.
Mirhoseyni narrates death of fish parallel to one of Hormozgan’s old traditions namely giving up clothes of the death to the sea. Main elements of the photos include colorful clothes, coins, colored soil and the dead fish. there are some writing regarding photos which relate to artist’s subjectivity and try to explain each photo.
The fair shows a new look towards ecological threats beside integrating multimedia works of art, presenting local elements of Hormozgan and putting together tradition and modernity. In photography these threats are usually presented through documentaries and show damages to the nature openly. But in this fair, the photographer gives a new narrative or what goes on with nature. This article tries to describe the photographer’s point of view and the form of his presentation.
Besides showing the grief behind death of Gariz fish the photographer deals with the life and culture of people who live through these creatures. As we know economy is a part of each culture. Here the coins depicted in photos signify the economic side of tragic narrative of fish deaths. The main factor regarding ecological threats is human being. Ironically environment is their capital. These two are always confronting and photographer has shown the confrontation in detail. He tries to personify the fish through setting together the fish, colorful cloths and writings. The writings include every day concerns of the people whose roles are played by the fish. Some of these writings are as follows: “me”, “to have sweet and candy” “6 o’clock, ghadir park “and” the father who is anxious, the thin black boy won’t be his”.
Grief is sensed in all these works of art. In Iranian culture, the fish are always symbol of life and water refers to light and wisdom but in this fair these signs are facing their opposites: the fish whit death and water with pollution.
If we regard the fair from the point of view of visual features, first we see a number of paintings. High contrast of colored soil with neutral background (part of the seashore), and bold movements of color drops remind us of abstract expressionist works of art. Moreover, simplicity and brevity in combinations shows artist’s minimalist tendency and such a painting-driven view of photography shows more how much the artist likes painting.
Rhythm too plays an important role in combinations. Rhythm breaks frameworks and guides us towards seeing beyond the frames. This is one of the main factors in this fair which helps present a certain relation between the works in this fair.
There is also a video art which shows two films simultaneously. The first film show the fish being chopped end cleaned from blood and the second one shows phytoplankton in one place which draw attention with their light, transparent colors in comparison whit the other opaque red film.
In combinations there are empty fish bowls and dangling sharp hooks. The opposition of glass and iron together with the sad look of empty fish bowls brings whit it the grief of the sea whose fish had quit it.
