“hICEstory” by Armin Amirian

For our second featured “Photographer to Watch”, we were drawn to the powerful work of Iranian photographer, Armin Amirian. For his series, “hICEstory”, created during the covid pandemic, Amirian selected images of historical moments or significant events, placed them in water and froze them. He then photographed them with the resulting ice formations. “They were frozen just like the world we were living in but still breathing and alive,” he explains. ”Today's Iranian Women” (see image above), is a portrait of the Iranian Miss World contestants before the 1979 revolution published by “Women of the Day” magazine. After the revolution, not only were many magazines and newspapers banned from being published and contests and events were disallowed by the new government, but women were also required to wear hijabs and adhere to a strict dress code. While Amirian’s project offers commentary on Iran’s post-revolutionary social and political environment, he says the series also offers hope and an inspiring narrative that despite everything, the ice has a melting point and the subjects in the photograph will return to their dynamic lives from their frozen state. “Ultimately, they are all living images behind the ice, and will eventually be free of this blockage,” he says.

About the Photographer

Armin Amirian was born in 1995 in Iran. As a self-taught freelance artist, he spent his childhood and teenage years exploring different art mediums. Impacted by his perceptions of the world, people and culture, he uses his passion for photography and cinema to explore the human condition and communicate across language and cultural barriers. Armin has contributed to more than 100 festivals and exhibits throughout the years, has had multiple solo exhibitions and received many international awards. To see more of his work, visit his website at https://www.arminamirian.com/.