Reza Nadji: Inter/sectual

In the work, Ultimatum, Nadji combines 3 analogies that correlate in the struggle of being. The first reference is to the state between the heavens and the earth, relating to genesis, from a psychological (as opposed to religious) standpoint.

The second idea stems from human nature’s continuous process of creating balance between chaos and order, and nature and culture.

The third, which references theories in sociology, mathematics and physics, hints towards the concept of relativity, where the prerequisite for anything to “be” is the existence of its opposite, and that a state of perfect balance must accordingly exist on an overarching level.

Since its inception, photography has been described as being able to visually freeze a passage of time at a given moment. Even the shortest exposure is always a period of time, though is generally interpreted as punctual. Time is perceived as linear, a collection of moments captured in the order of occurrence. They create a sense of past and future, yet they are really only a product of our assumptions.
In Multiples, the levels are created in a certain time sequence, but can not be reassigned in a specific order once the work is completed. These photographs attempt to disrupt the idea of time based only on images of memory in linear sequence. In this series, the well-known reality (usually shown photographically with a single exposure) is divided and multi-layered. Since none of the individual exposures is more clear than the other, there is no layer that can be understood as a norm, or as a starting point that would garner more importance than another.

The images of the landscapes are to be dissolved in form and colour, as we may recognize from non-objective painting and the beginnings of expressionism and futurism. Nevertheless, they should not lose the content that connects them with our natural perception and the known environment. Lines and geometrical arrangements, as well as the pure image composition is emphasized, but the importance of the details is meant to disappear, so that our natural perception of what should be is disrupted.

In this third series, Oceanscapes, Nadji creates geometric, abstract landscapes as the horizon intersects to form 4 triangles. Referencing similar themes of balance and contrast, the two exposures overlap to form a graphic simplicity that is clean and calming, emphasizing a natural order. Although this cleanness may give a contemporary feel, the images were not superimposed through digital manipulation or Photoshop, but though the classic method of double exposure.

Using perhaps the most fundamental components of our world — water and sky — Nadji breaks this down to basic forms of geometry by creating lines and planes. Influenced in part by Sugimoto’s Seascapes, the created triangles can also be seen as a reference to symbolism in many faiths like in Hinduism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism.