Accidental Traveller Arriving at The Nicholson Gallery in June
The ArtsCenter
Inspiring artistic creativity to enrich the lives of people of all ages.
(Carrboro, NC)?The ArtsCenter presents?Sia Yazdanfar’s?Accidental Traveller, June 1 – 25, 2022. Sia Yazdanfar, an Iranian native photographer, captures the "lesser known parts of the Middle East."?
"I believe these voyages yielded some of the most kaleidoscopic & engaging photos I have had the privilege to shoot, capturing some of the lesser known parts of the Middle East.” - Sia Yazdanfar.?The reception dates for?Accidental Traveller?takes place, June 10th and 17th from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.?
Artist Bio
I am a freelance photographer, born & raised in Iran, with extended time throughout my formative years spent in Spain, Pakistan, & Nigeria. I have resided in the United States for the majority of my adult life. A few years ago, in 2017, I went back to my motherland to reconnect with my roots & explore the timeless traditions & trades of different regions in the country. My series of exhibitions upon my return stateside served as a visual tapestry of the millennia-old architectural wonders of Iran.
In 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, I traveled once more to the Middle East. As a contrast to the photographs of mosques, palaces, tombs & other historic sites in my earlier exhibitions, this next wave of journeys focused on the people whose daily lives were encompassed by those spaces. I captured images of the saffron harvest in Seh Gonbad, traditional Caspian fishing methods in Siyahrud, & silk fabric weaving in Kashan.
Through my photography, I seek to share with the viewer the many layers that comprise this ancient civilization, where despite the influx of modernization, certain ways of life continue as they have for centuries, if not longer. In my path as a visual artist, I am attempting to inform my audience of a sense of place in far-flung locales which they may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience.
Exhibition Statement
My current exhibition took form over the course of explorations of various Persian Gulf islands & coasts, from August through December of 2021. I had yet again returned to Iran during this seemingly endless pandemic, intending on trekking around the provinces of East & West Azerbaijan, in the northwest reaches of the country. When travel restrictions forced me to cancel, fate & chance recommendations landed me in the opposite direction, on the subtropical southern fringes of my motherland.
Boasting some of the most colorful landscape & locals I have ever encountered, Hormozgan Province borders the gulf where it meets the Strait of Hormuz, the preeminent strategic chokepoint on Earth. I believe these voyages yielded some of the most kaleidoscopic & engaging photos I have had the privilege to shoot, capturing some of the lesser known parts of the Middle East.
Traveling to distant places & exploring ways of life different than our own informs our worldview. Even prior to the pandemic, there was a sense of fragmentation in our common fabric. The Coronavirus disease & necessary self-isolation seemed to magnify some of our existing societal ills. Xenophobic & ethnocentrism rhetoric, while not billed as such, filled a great share of the media. As our society opens back up, there is no better time to embrace our differences & similarities than now.
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The guiding philosophy & the impetus for this exhibition is twofold. First, through sharing photographs & stories from a misunderstood side of our planet I hope to dispel preconceived ideas of life seldom shared with a western audience. Second, I want to insert the viewer into a world poles apart, & allow them to draw comparisons with their own quotidian routines. We all seek familiarity, & I use the medium of photographic storytelling to deliver that.
Sia Yazdanfar
+1 702 706 3845
This event is free and open to the public!?For parking and accessibility information visit artscenterlive.org/about/#visitor-info.
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The ArtsCenter is a 501(c)(3) Arts Education non-profit located in Carrboro, North Carolina. It is the single largest employer of artists in Orange County and serves more than 100,000 patrons each year, including K-12 students.