ART

Perhaps you should start by something you can relate to

The Iranian series is perhaps easier to approach. The idea of woman sitting by a door with a suitcase is almost universal.

The man with the hidden past, or the travelling carpet seller who has not been home as most of his relatives are no longer alive with the idea of Border i.e. the photos that were published in Iranian.com are something an Iranian audience can relate to.

The first two you chose are from the Minimal Utopia, which you are suppose to explore. This series is a critic of the disaster that is hidden under the skin of modern life. At first glance, the images look like an idealized metropolis but if you look closely there are so many hidden messages:-

The dog is eating/sniffing a human hand, his owner's hand. The woman carrying an animal in her plastic bag. The characters are under surveillance. The image is almost subliminal. Hence the positioning of characters and they are deliberately contrived to be in the state they are in. Her web site provides the facility for a close up examination whereas a single link to a small image does not.

These images are not there to give you a nice warm comforting feeling. They challenge you, and make you think. There is as much symbolism in a classical painting, so if you are keen to appreciate art you should keep that in mind.

The last is from the Wall House project which conceptually relates to John Hejduk's work (architect). This was a commisioned work with constructs reminiscent of 1960's , 780s European art cinema.

It is a question of how much someone could be bothered to dig deep into the work, irrespective of what the work is and what age it belongs but you have taken the first step.

I don't get your explaination

Pictures such as //mitratabrizian.com/images/f01.jpg seems to be taken from Sim Societies video game!

The story is there, not my story, but it's there. The fakeness of the modles is part of her art, I don't get it (that's not important I know). Still the honesty, passion and human factor is missing in her pictures.

//mitratabrizian.com/images/f06.jpg or

//mitratabrizian.com/images/n04.jpg

??

Please refer to her web site and read the text for guideline

Dear critics!

There is a good reason why the link for her web site has been provided. There are narratives for her subjects. It is only a click away!

The subjects are immaculately contrived; they are not in a candid animated state like your family pet cat!

In my opinion she is more than just an artist, she is a phenomenon. The Iranian related photographs are almost overlapping the genre of Iranian cinema. The other photos such as lost time are just as touching, so her work and message is universal.

The story she tells is a tragedy. The last time I was so moved and walked away from a gallery with wet eyes was when I saw the pictures of the falling man (Twin towers) for I knew that it is not just USA, the whole world just changed. This is a tragedy just as real as that, and for our time in our living history, you just have to partially comprehend it to feel the horror, or better still try not to and distract yourself with something else, ignorance is bliss.

So, to answer you, although in a democracy my opinion has the same ballet value as yours, and without trying to sound condescending, you have every right to like or dislike this work but if you do not make the effort then it is your loss and not hers. She has done her job and told your story, it is now up to you to look and listen what is being said about you. You the Iranian people, or you the citizens of 21st century living in arrays of all consuming Metropolis.

Visit mitratabrizian.com

maybe it's me...

what's the point of taking real pictures but making them look like a poor photoshop job?

I don't get it.

IRANdokht

A bit of fake

The models look, feel and taste like one, which takes away the focus to the pictures. They are noise in your art. More natural and less "designed" look would be much more powerful.

Mitra your pictures communicate feelings of isolation,

alienation, lonlieness and curosity. I like your compostions and the way you work with light, space and people. They reach out deep inside our souls. We sometimes cannot explain these feelings like Sadegh Hedayat the Iranian writer's stories. Well done.

Interesting

But depressing.

Depressing

depressing place also. Cheer up

Sorry

Brava!

Formal and theatrical yet the sense of the lyrical is undeniably there. The compositions and the lighting brings Caravaggio and the Dutch Masters to mind.

Overall very powerful AND human pieces.

Brava!

Daydreaming

Very nice! The backgrounds in the photographs look so austere, it is initially difficult to relate to them on a personal level. But there are easily identifiable and palpable feelings, lodged somewhere on the subjects' facial expressions or in the way a foot is positioned or a hand is moving, that feel familiar, almost a deja vu. I felt the sadness, the anticipation, and the hope in many of the photographs. I thought all these characters were caught daydreaming!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Absolutely beautiful!

A++

Fantastic work. Very scary.

Beautiful

Great work of art!