Amin Yousefi, a postgraduate student from the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism MA course, has been chosen as one of the finalists of this year’s Paris Photo Carte Blanche award for his photography series ‘Eyes dazzle as they search for the Truth’.
Paris Photo is the largest international art fair of photography with a mission to promote art, galleries, publishers, and artists. The 25th edition of the fair will take place between 10-13 November 2022 in Paris at the Grand Palais Ephémère, which faces the Eifffel Tower.
Since 1997, Paris Photo brings together around 200 exhibitors every year from all around the world. It is a place where leading galleries can showcase works from experienced artists and new talents. Visitors can enjoy first-hand access to the art world, including exhibitions, award ceremonies, conversation cycles, and events about photography history, visions and trends.
The Paris Photo Carte Blanche 2022, organised by Paris Photo, Picto Foundation and SNCF Gares & Connexions, only selects four student projects from over 100 European photography and visual arts schools. The finalists will present their selected portfolios during the Paris Photo fair at the Grand Palais. The winning projects will be presented in a large format exhibition from mid-October until the end of November 2022 at Paris Gare du Nord, one of the world's most visited train stations.
Amin Yousefi is an Iranian artist studying a postgraduate course in Documentary Photography at the University of Westminster. As the University is re-writing the courses for 2024, the Documentary Photography and Photojournalism MA course will cease to exist after December 2022, and therefore Yousefi will be one of the last students to study on this course.
He grew up in the province of Khuzestan, which is Iran’s most oil-rich region and the scene for Iran’s devastating war with neighbouring Iraq. Yousefi’s themes are related to the cityscape, environment, humanity, and effects of war and how the act of photography can conceptualise the structures of these relationships.
His series for the Paris Photo Fair, 'Eyes dazzle as they search for the Truth', is a commemoration of the Iranian Revolution. As he describes: “Like a detective armed with a magnifying glass, I want to discover my suspects using a loupe from among the revolutionaries of Iran between 1978 and 1979.”
According to Yousefi, the Iranian Revolution is the most important event in the Middle East in the last 50 years and has greatly impacted the region. This project is about individuals who looked out from among the masses at a crucial moment in history and stared into the lens of a camera.
Yousefi has participated in several international group exhibitions and national awards and prizes. Most recently, he took part in Westminster’s ‘Work in Progress’ exhibition 2022 at the London Gallery West, as well as the ‘Where We Meet: Connection’ exhibition at the Deptford Does Art Gallery. In 2019, he was selected as an Ag Galerie Talent for his work titled ‘Life, Death and other Similar Things’ which was exhibited in a solo show at Ag Galerie.
Learn more about Photography courses at the University of Westminster.
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