Iranian artist Ramin Haerizadeh

ONE of the artists that impressed me the most at Art Dubai last week was the Iranian artist Ramin Haerizadeh who specializes in doing photomontages.

His series entitled “Bab Hijab”, which shows women who are wearing their hijab in a “bad” way on the streets of Tehran being harassed and arrested by the religious police, of course reminded me of our own religious police in Saudi Arabia.

He superimposes his own face on that of the women in the pictures, I guess to protect their identities, and then colors the prints he makes of the photos.

Ramin was born in Tehran in 1975 and has been exhibiting his photographs since 2004. He held an exhibition of his work at the B21 gallery in Dubai in November 2007.

B21 gallery says that “‘Men of Allah’ and ‘Bab Hijab’ portray the artist trapped in the female figure and disguised in chador robes. The two series offer a sharp criticism of Iranian society’s often inhuman nature, while maintaining Ramin’s characteristic sense of humour.”

His other series entitled “Wonders of Nature” show images of clouds, twigs and trees that are split and repeated into abstract patterns.

Ramin’s younger brother Rokni is a painter and he has also had much success with his big, colorful paintings that are social commentaries on contemporary life in Iran.