Gohar Dashti Reimagines The Effects Of War, Migration, And Displacement In Iran

The staged photographs from the series ‘Stateless’ and ‘Iran, Untitled’ depict different scenes of human experience, set against a backdrop of arresting, rocky desertscapes. In some images, subjects trek across arid terrain with their belongings; in others, groups of children huddle together in bathtubs, and on mattresses, and couches—furniture meant for inside a home, not a barren, isolating desert. Her work is intended as a metaphor, visualizing the effects of Iran’s social and political history of conflict, and the ongoing ramifications of the Iran-Iraq war. “Growing up in the rich, complex, and rigorous culture of Iran, not to mention its turbulent recent past, has had a major effect on Dashti’s practice”, explains a statement from the Robert Klein Gallery. “Her work is a mirror of the rigid regulations and complex social issues of post-revolution Iran”.

Of additional concern to Dashti is the response to the European migrant crisis, whereby millions of refugees have been displaced in recent years as a result of the region’s subsequent wars. Her work questions humanity’s capacity for empathy in the face of such hardships: “When disasters force people to migration, where would they be welcomed with open arms?” She asks. A poignant image from the series, in which a couple embrace each other nearby their total sum of possessions, speaks to this reality of belonging: where, “Sky becomes the ceiling and mountains the walls of their new home; because nature is the only promising place that shelters these people, an eternal and everlasting refuge.”