PAYRAM - Exil, 2001

Gelatin silver print
Image size : 57 x 44 cm
Signed in pencil lower right
Titled and numbered 2/7 lower left
Frame : 85 x 72 cm

Light is in the center of the work of the Iranian photographer Payram. After being chased out from his native country in 1983 by the Islamic revolution, he has developed a photographic work about the precariousness of his exile status along with the fragility of the film medium, including Polaroid, instant and unique. The most recognized are the White Portraits and Black Portraits where he plays with light to immerse persian women portraits.

His work is part of many collections, public (Musée Elysée Lausanne, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art…) and private (Collection Neuflize OBC, Collection JPMorgan). In 2011, he published Syrie 55 (Gang Editions), shocking testimony of Aleppo, Damascus and Latakieh and then started a new series with a view camera in the footsteps of Paul Nadar. In 2015, he participated, with monumental photographic installations, to Image Singulière (Sète, FR) and Itinéraires des photographes voyageurs (Bordeaux, FR) festivals. In 2016, he benefits from a solo-exhibtion at SIMULTANIA. in 2017, Galerie Maubert dedicated a solo-show to his work at Paris Photo and editions Bec en l’Air published a monograph Il y a beaucoup de lumière ici. In 2020, he participated in the exhibition Noir & Blanc: Une Esthétique De La Photographie at Grand Palais, Paris. In 2021, he published Photographic dialogue on the Silk Roads (photographs by Paul Nadar and Payram, texts by Mathilde Falguière & Michel Poivert) at Editions Le Bec en l'Air and was exhibited in duo show at Paris Photo.