Untitled (From Hopeful Series) by Mehdi Dandi

Mehdi Dandi (b. 1987, Zanjan, Iran) has received his BA in Graphic Design from Tehran University of Applied Sciences and Technology. His works have been exhibited in more than twenty five group shows in Italy, the UAE, and Iran. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada.

Mehdi says, "The subject matters of my works range from the most ordinary, Spartan spaces to scenic vistas and even ruined places. I like embellishing ruins and destroying ornaments. I try to reflect this recurring human behavior in pictures and plasterboards: a behavior that is self-destructive. Ornamentation is sometimes used to justify behaviors, and destruction is sometimes used as a pretext to construct."

Mehdi continues: "Relying on my emotional expression, I empower my camera’s frame to embrace the object and its story that’s waiting to be told, its poetry to be recited. As a Persian artist, poetry has been an integral and inspirational guiding element in all my artistic endeavors, in every art that I’ve created. It’s a language we’re most fluent in. My relationship with some of my works can be seen as destructive, disturbing the harmony between the image and its environment. The image rebels, speaks and reflects just as we engage with politics and create our social personas and identify the activism within us."

Adapted from: Mehdidandi.com