AN INTERVIEW WITH IRANIAN PHOTOGRAPHER KOUROSH ADIM Beauty and the Lens

Kourosh Adim is an Iranian photographer whose work is characterized by dreamy symbolism and mystery. A scientist by training, he came to photography in 1993 after several years of experimentation with calligraphy and graphic design. He has never looked back. His work has been exhibited and favorably received around the globe. His passion for photography also transpires in his teaching and writing. A faculty member at Jahad University, Tehran, Adim also writes for the art weekly Tandis and serves as editor-in-chief of the photographic magazine Hast.

Portrait of the Artist / Courtesy of the Artist

You work mostly, but not exclusively in black-and-white. Do you prefer it because of its association with nostalgia, its visual restraint, its dramatic possibilities or something else entirely?

I believe the presence of color in an image is an adornment and comes from a necessity, which has not been present in many periods of my practice. That’s to say the moment that I press the shutter button, the presence of any adornment, including color, is superfluous, even though it aids the depiction of outer reality. In my photographs, the absence of color narrates a vague drama: it guides the audience towards the past. Though in recent works, there are certain changes that have pushed me to bring color into the images.

You use photography to give shape to a very personal, poetic vision. The images run the gamut from the sublime to the strange. The series have titles and appear to tell a story, but one whose meaning seems to escapes viewers. Are you interested in probing the subconscious or at least in encouraging viewers to imagine worlds that exist beyond the confines of rational thought?

Since my very first experiences with photography –and no doubt influenced by my interest in literature, poetry and philosophy— I’ve always tended to eliminate ‘time’ and ‘place’ from my photographs. The title of each piece implies the weight and importance that words have in my practice.

That’s true, I'm very interested in the sublime and what exists beyond rational thought, but storytelling in its exact sense is not what I look for in my images since I prefer poetry to the building of narration. I like to build a poetic atmosphere in my photographic images. And of course, creating such images somehow challenges the viewers' regular visual understanding.

Kourosh Adim / Dreamy Woman, frame 11 / Courtesy of the Artist

Kourosh Adim / Dreamy Woman, frame 13 / Courtesy of the Artist

Kourosh Adim / Dreamy Woman, frame 14 / Courtesy of the Artist

Kourosh Adim / Dreamy Woman, frame 19 / Courtesy of the Artist

You work in series. Could you say a few words about why you favor sequences? Have you been influenced by film or earlier photographers like Duane Michaels who instituted photographic narratives as a genre?

I categorize the photographic series in two: the series of images that have intertextual connections, and the series that have hypertextual connections. I think what you can see mostly in my series are the latter, the hypertextual connections. In other words, images are not set beside each other due to their narrational nature, but because they somehow constitute poetic, unnarrative meanings. As for cinema, the answer is then no because I’m not inspired by film in the sense of creating a narrative through sequences of images.

Kourosh Adim / About an Autumn, frame 2 / Courtesy of the Artist

Kourosh Adim / About an Autumn, frame 4 / Courtesy of the Artist

Your work appears to be strongly rooted in Persian art traditions by its symbolism, poetry and beauty. While many contemporary Iranian artists have given up on beauty, you seem to find it everywhere: in rippling waves, the pages of a book, the wings of a bird or the wrinkles of an aging hand, often capturing these from unusual angles.

Despite the fact that in recent decades, the concept of beauty in the visual arts has been entirely paraphrased, I still consider beauty as sublime in the Platonic sense, but I also believe that the perception and understanding of beauty for a modern individual has been altered and converted so much over time that it no longer has anything to do with the initial nature of beauty which is elevational and salvational. Sublimity and elevation are the main aspects of art and artworks which do not connote the worldly characteristics of humanity. Taking photographs from irregular angles in my earlier work was an effort to be creative and move beyond regular points of view.

Kourosh Adim / Crows out of the Blue, frame 4 / Courtesy of the Artist

There is a lot of talent in Iran. The photographic community is extremely dynamic and growing. You are active in the field, not only as an artist, but also as a teacher, curator, writer and publisher. What drives your interest in documenting contemporary Iranian photography?

Despite the big number of photographers who live in Iran, there’s no educational substructure and influential schools that provide a strong theoretical basis for those who are interested in photography. The government should support private associations given that they have no authority to intervene in the sphere of education. This was the reason that motivated me and others like me to willingly establish private institutions and publish magazines related to photography with their own assets.

Kourosh Adim / About a Chair, frame 1 / Courtesy of the Artist

What are you working on now in terms of photography and projects?

These days, unlike before, I’m more into ‘reality’ than ‘truth’. I think that reality emerges in front of an artist’s eyes like magic in each and every second but that it is we who can’t often see it. As I get older, my understanding of reality is becoming more profound. I’ve been working on two photographic projects since last year which I’ll be exhibiting next year. Also, publishing Hast Magazine is an important parallel activity.

Kourosh Adim / The Dream of Water, frame 2 / Courtesy of the Artist

Kourosh Adim / The Dream of Water, frame 2 / Courtesy of the Artist

We thank you for sharing your beautiful, enigmatic images with our readership and wish you continued success.

Thank you for the interview and I appreciate your efforts of introducing Iranian contemporary photography to your audience.