New Delhi: A Photo Exhibition "A Window to Iran" by Dr. Aziz Mahdi of Iran was held in Delhi in the first week of May. The event was attended by Ambassador of Islam Republic of Iran to India, Dr Ali Chegeni.
The exhibition was a display of the artists works from 2005-16. With the desire of showing his perspective of Iran to Indians, its beauty, the beauty of its architecture, its people, the landscapes & everything thats beautiful about Iran, Dr Mahdi decribes himself is a person who looks at the world from the lens with a different perspective. His photos are his personal views about Iran that he wants to show the people of India. The artist wants to show through his digital pictures that 'Iran is not just about oil and its riches. Its not a country that just has diplomatic tussles with the western world. Iran is what my photos show. Iran is beautiful'. He says he wants to be the cultural ambassador of Iran and show the gulf country's good side to Indians.
Dr Aziz Mahdi exhibition displayed 50 photographs. 'This is my 2nd solo exhibition in India,' he says. He plans to hold the exhibition in other countries too.
Which Indian photo artist do you appreciate. Pat comes his answer...Raghu Rai. 'Raghu Rai's simplicity inspires me. Whatever is there should be shown to the world. Something that is not good in someone's eyes may be good in another's eyes.' Mahdi wants to show what Iran is in its essence, the natural way.
On my comparing Iranian architecture with that of central Asian he says 'It is basically the Iranian architecture that spread to central Asia. It originated from Iran, this is glazed tiled work which then spread to Uzbekistan, Tajekistan that are sister countries who have taken this art from Iran.'
The New Delhi-based Mahdi is a doctorate in the Persian language from the University of Tehran. He has taught at the Department of Indian Studies of the University of Tehran for nearly five years.
The exhibition featured photos on Iranian architecture, landscapes abstract and portraits highlighting the beauty of Iran.
On why he named a picture 'Feminity' Aziz says it the artist's choice of naming it that way because when I look at this photograph I see the feminine side of this view.
On the above photo called 'Mouthful of Simplicity', he said he named it so because his life is very simple with just a mouthful of his food. Just a mouthful is needed to survive, it implied.
