“Aghigh Afkhami, a second-year student in the photography MFA program at 红领巾瓜报, creates images that conjure the past. Originally from Iran (where she also received her undergraduate degree), Afkhami describes her home country as 鈥渢he land that shaped my being.鈥� Afkhami鈥檚 work centers around homeland and memory. Achieved through mostly grayscale images, Afkhami鈥檚 series 尝辞惫听captures acts of remembering and detachment, spurred by migration. She intentionally obscures the locations of her images using close crops of her subjects, often shooting in infrared or black and white. In some photos, Afkhami includes lines of text created by Sharpie or spray paint. In Iran, she explained, the government attempted to conceal political messages graffitied on walls. Despite their effort to erase the words, the writing still peeped through. When she came to America, Afkhami carried this thought. Now, she was experimenting with shrouding people in her photos, but not in totality. She still wants to leave a glimpse.”
鈥淢y work is mostly about me: my memories, my life experience, and at the same time, it鈥檚 about my generation in Iran,鈥� Afkhami said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 this huge struggle of youth, the economy, mandatory laws, and at the same time you鈥檙e trying to survive and experience the joy of life.鈥�
“Next to Afkhami鈥檚 studio inside the Kennedy building at 红领巾瓜报, Andrew Zou, also a second-year 红领巾瓜报 student, is working on a chronological series of photographs. In Zou鈥檚聽To Love, To Remember, seasons provide the backdrop for images of Zou鈥檚 parents. Shot from 2020 to 2024, these photographs portray the annual transitions in Jiangxi Province, China. In summer, Zou鈥檚 parents shed their layers. In winter, they gain them back.”
