Bāygān: House of Photographs and Words
Photo
Taraneh Hemami
Untitled
2016

Text

Farzin Azarm

 Metamorphosis

In the middle of Chris Marker’s film Sans Soleil, the narrator, while watching pixelated archival images, quotes his friend saying: "If the images of the present do not change, change the images of the past." He then comments on those manipulated images: "Compared to what is broadcast on television, you see less deceptive images. At least they declare themselves for what they are: in the form of images, not a compressed and portable form of a reality that is already unattainable."

We see an inverted and faceless body, stripped of identity, in the image. A crucified body, suspended in a timeless space, seemingly taking flight. I perceive this image not about the figure itself, but about the process of metamorphosis of images in the course of reproduction, redefinition, and dissemination. This figure no longer functions as a historical document but stands in an intermediary state: neither fully memory nor fully present. Here, the image no longer carries a specific narrative; instead, it itself becomes a story of change, erosion, and transformation of meaning in an endless cycle of reproduction. The identity of this fallen figure no longer belongs to a specific individual but, through the process of manipulation and representation, has become a collective symbol—a sign of bodies that throughout history, in real or virtual battles, have fallen to the ground.