Roya Falahi
(b. 1980, Washington, DC)

The Los Angeles-based Iranian-American photographer Roya Falahi grew up in Southern California, primarily in San Diego. She received her BA from UC Irvine and, in 2006, completed her MFA at UCLA. Falahi draws from diverse sources of inspiration in her work, including her Iranian roots, performance art and contemporary American culture, especially rock music. Roya’s photographs were featured in Different Sames: New Perspectives in Iranian Art and she has several upcoming shows. In October 2009, her work will be on display at The Guild Gallery in New York. And in 2010, Roya will be in two group shows in LA, at Taylor de Cordoba in January and Monte Vista Projects in February.

Yasmine Mohseni is a Los Angeles-based arts writer and independent curator. Her articles have been published in magazines such as BlackBook, Discover and Newsweek. She is a contributing writer at Artworks and ForYourArt.com and is the U.S. Correspondent for Canvas magazine. Yasmine holds a Master of Arts degree in Art and Design History from the Bard Graduate Center in New York City, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from Occidental College in Los Angeles and a diploma from Christie's Education in Paris. She has worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Christie’s New York and the Musée d’Orsay. She is currently working on two gallery exhibitions in Los Angeles and several writing projects. For more information, please visit http://www.yasminemohseni.com

Yasmine Mohseni: What are some recurrent themes in your work?

Roya Falahi: This might not be obvious to many people but definitely music. I’ll hear a lyric and think, “I want to make that!” I don’t necessarily know how to explain it, with music, it’s a subconscious thing. I’m always listening to music, especially Björk, Mars Volta and Tool. I’m very inspired by it. I translate what I hear in the music I love into my own type of visual language. I think that ties into the surreal nature of my portraits.

YM: Much of your work is the visual translation of sound. But there’s also a strong political component.

RF: There are certain lyrics that may not be political but I make it political. Like the Tool lyric “there’s no love in fear”, which I think is applicable to everything going on [in the world] right now. From the health care crisis in the USA to the situation in Iran. I’m working on a new project where I transform lyrics into protest signs and I’ll then photograph people holding the signs.

YM: Your series Camo Tactics (Smells Like Blood) is another example of how you meld different sources of influence, in this case, politics and performance art. What was your process, technically and conceptually?

RF: I use a 4x5 camera all the time now, the detail is so good that I can’t use anything else. Then I created an entirely red background, costumes and props, there’s no image manipulation. With this series, I want people to look, contemplate and question. My ethnic identity and the global political context inform my photography.

Camo Tactics (It smells like blood) came from my desire to veil the body from head to toe. As the title suggests, I wanted to use military tactics of camouflage to create a phantasmagorical scene. The red-clad character blends into an all-red composition. The effect of the camouflaging is absurd and I draw a parallel between the clown-like character within a highly constructed setting to current political events and their portrayal by the news and media. I just did a variation on the series where the same girl has a green ribbon hanging from her wrist and she’s holding pictures of Neda or other protest victims from the recent Iranian elections.

My cousin’s husband was taken from his home [in Tehran] we don’t know where he is. So there are pictures of him [in the new series], which makes it personal. He worked for Mousavi and they came into his house in the middle of the night and took him.

YM: Have you noticed a change in the way people react or ask questions about your work since Iran has been in the political and media spotlight?

RF: Yes, there are more questions about what it means. But I still think that people are into how crazy my work looks. Generally, people have more questions about the work. For Camo Tactics, they ask how I got everything red or if I used Photoshop.

YM: In the past several years, Iranian art has been getting a lot of attention; do you feel that label boxes you in?

RF: I think it is a good thing because my own artwork is political. The label might add a little boxing in, but it hasn’t really affected me either way, yet. It could be end up being bad if you’re only known as an Iranian artist. Right now, I don’t mind because art is a political subject in Iran and in America.

 
Roya Falahi
Camo Tactics (s... blood) Wine		   Roya Falahi
Camo Tactics (s...) Newspaper



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