Nasrollah Kasraian, one of the Pioneer Artists
Tandismag Website, Written by Javid Ramezani
English Translation by Arian Azadkam
On the occasion of Nasrollah Kasraian’s first Solo Photography Exhibition in United States of America, titled “Through the Lens of Ethnicity: Images of Iranian Women” at Maryland University.
Nasrollah Kasraian is known as the father of ethno-photography in Iran. He has spent a lifetime envisioning ethnography-exploring.
Although Artists attention to people starts somehow by political views but during their career the spiritual essence of artist would lose the strength’s source without his people, especially in case of dealing with people who have been endured through hurricanes of life’s anxiety and surviving a tumultuous history during centuries.
How is it by using photography the outer time alters into inner time? Outer time is the time for the universe and rotating around the sun. But inner time forms based on mankind love and his fertile imagination. This piece of paper which has been drawn by chemistry and as a result of modernity is the miracle of connecting inner and outer time. Our outer time is full of our land’s mountains and plain pictures and people who have been migrated for thousands of years and colored their lives by songs, stories, carpets and rugs; and even by loneliness of longing mountains and extensive sunsets.
Kasraian became one of the headmasters quickly & simply. He is one of the firsts who has portrayed this realm with years of work and consistency. Our people have been formed what they call art on the axis of their imagination & inner space. Kasraian’s photographic behavior couldn’t be just categorized as documenting the culture of different tribes but rather a new narrative of our people’s active notion. Many artistic actions (apparently simple & routine) which are actually just an importation from other countries ideals & history of art into our art society have been eliminated and invisible in his works. Kasraian’s actions and productions have been influenced by his own needs not just by paying attention to art merely. This leads unconsciously to many appreciations by craftsmen, masters and people for Kasraian, this reflective and decent artist. His photography books were a headmost phenomenon too, beautifully crafted and visualizing in an impressive shape suited as a photobook perfectly. Operating modern techniques of digital printing and scanning first used & examined by Kasraian. Atmosphere he created enlightened the chance to visually examine the print industry resulting to higher quality outcomes and products. He is the first ethnographer, the very first publisher of art books in a world-class style in Iran and the first photographer renowned by the public society of Iran.
The list of Nasrollah Kasraian’s published books sorted by their first time appearance on publications & relative markets.
• Life (1981)
• From Childhood (1984)
• Experience
• Endless Journey
• Our Homeland Iran (1990)
• Turkamans of Iran (1991)
• Damavand (1992)
• Isfahan (1992)
• Nomads of Iran (1993)
• Kurds of Iran (1993)
• Persepolis (1994)
• Tehran(1995)
• Shimal (1996)
• Janub (1998)
• Nature of Iran (2000)
• Masouleh (2002)
• Abyaneh (2002)
• Baluchistan (2003)
• Architecture of Iran (2004)
• Hesitation (2005)
• On Side (2006)
• Transition (2007)
