After meeting Sara Shamsavari, I was very excited to share a bit of her story and projects with you all! This inspiring photographer travels cities to immortalize unique faces. NYC veil, London veil or Paris Veil, you might have purposely or accidentally scrolled down an Instagram page or tumblr page and liked some of her portraits. Now is your time to get to know her better, and understand the process behind the colorful, one of a kind portraits.
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What is London veil? Paris veil? NYC veil ? And how did it all start?
Most
of my photographic work explores identity and looks at current social
and cultural concerns. Although each project is different they all
seek to encourage the ideals of non-judgement, equality, unity in
diversity and collective responsibility.
London
Veil both illustrates and is inspired by the idea that our perceived
restrictions, limitations and challenges can encourage creativity,
originality and adaptation.I am inspired by the idea of
transformation, more specifically how we can transform something
negative we have experienced in to something beautiful. I was always
struck by how this group of people shine so beautifully despite the
fact that here in the west there has been a lot of negativity
directed towards Muslims recently.
Also,
I have a deep desire to share my vision and reality and there
was a huge disparity between the image of women wearing hijab I would
see on the news and the ladies I know and see every day on the
streets of London.
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| London Veil |
What are you looking for in the images you capture? What are your expectations from your subjects?
Making the kind of images I do requires the ability to bee beyond the outer facade to the inner beauty. Although I am a lover of style, stance, colour and expression, it is something deeper and less tangible that speaks to me and compels me to make a portrait of someone.
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| NYC Veil |
Tell me a bit more about Sara Shamsavari? Who are you? What did you study and what is your vision of modesty?
I
was born in Tehran in the midst of the Iranian revolution. I overcame
childhood cancer while my family and I fled persecution. Being raised
in London from the age of two has inspired my exploration of
identity, while surviving both the revolution and illness has given
me a strong sense of purpose and desire to make a difference through
my work.
I
hope to bring people closer together through my work, to see each
other as human beings, not just as the labels of gender, ethnicity,
religion etc. Our differences are beautiful and should be embraced
rather than feared. I believe the most amazing things can
happen when those who are different seek to understand one
another.
I
was educated at Camberwell School of Art and Design with a BA (Hons)
and the University of Westminster (Cert HE in Music). My work has
exhibited in London, New York, Hong Kong and Paris in galleries,
museums and public spaces including the Institute of Contemporary
Art, London City Hall, The Royal Festival Hall, Photofusion,
Selfridges & Co, Espace Pierre Cardin and Rush Arts NY. My work,
exhibitions and profile have featured across various media and
publications including BBC, ITN, Reuters, The Guardian, i-D, Dazed &
Confused and Volt.
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| Paris Veil |
I
enjoy sharing my work and delivering talks, a number of them have
been at institutions, venues and events including Tate Britain,
Southbank Centre, Kings Place, the Royal Institution of Great Britain
(Cr8net) and the The Apple Store.
You are now taking pictures of woman and woman in hijab who are mostly muslim have you ever captured a non muslim hijabi, a Jewish one or Christian?
The
desire to photograph Muslimahs wearing hijab initially came from
observing a a disparity between the way certain people or groups are
represented in the media versus what I see on a daily basis in the
outside world. I felt that the idea of beauty that was being
translated in the media was very narrow, so it really started from me
wanting to share the beauty that I saw day to day with the rest of
the world.
It
seems that, over the last decade or so, Muslim women who wear veil
have been targeted with a lot of prejudice and abuse in the West.
Ultimately people are people, regardless of whether they wear the
hijab or not. I hoped that somehow through my work I could reinforce
this message and bring us all closer together.
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| London Veil |
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Sara is also conducting another photography project called The Dandy Lion project:
The Dandy Lion Project from James Maiki on Vimeo.
Below
is a list of forthcoming events and exhibitions from Sara
Shamsavari :
September
8th 2014 Beauty Untold- Speaking Without words. The Forge
London
A limited number of premium tickets are available that include a high end set of 10 signed postcards from the series book here
March
2015: International Veil- Westminster Art Reference Library,
London
April 2nd- July 15th 2015 : Shantrelle P Lewis’ The Dandy Lion Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP) Chicago
May 28th-31st 2015: Black Portraiture[s]II: Imaging the Black body and Re-staging History, Villa La Pietra, Florence Italy
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We'd like to thank Sara for taking the time to answer our questions, we wish you all the best for the continuation of your multiple projects and artistic journeys!
Thank you again, you are an inspiration.
-T H E B L O G G E R S T A L K-
2014
We'd like to thank Sara for taking the time to answer our questions, we wish you all the best for the continuation of your multiple projects and artistic journeys!
Thank you again, you are an inspiration.
-T H E B L O G G E R S T A L K-
2014
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