Anahita Ghabaian Transcript and Audio

Part 01

I hold a PhD degree in history from (name of the college)university.

I also hold a bachelor’s degree in computer from the same college.

I learned a lot about methods during my sixteen to seventeen years of stay there.

Based on my studies I decided later that

I had better pick one particular line of work

and try to develop that by making further research.

And since photography has always been my real passion

so I finally decided to pick it up as my final choice.

In the year 2000 I had my first opening day of the gallery coincided

with putting on some of Mr.Kia Rostami’s works.

On the beginning days when I had just started

I could hardly think of any trouble at all,

but little by little as the project proceeded,

finally actually realized how difficult in fact this job is!

To this day, which is almost this gallery’s 13th anniversary

I have totally and completely put any notions of making any profit

or anything money-making at all in general out of this project out of my mind.

Photograph is a direct medium.

There is no such thing as abstract work in photography

so when you want to say something in it,

direct would be your only way.

Photographs hardly ever find themselves serving for decorative purposes in Iran.

In fact, selling them here is real hard work and a gallery owner

who focuses on different kinds of art forms and not just on photography

would definitely have much bigger sales than we do here.

Unfortunately or fortunately the customer’s opinion does not determine what we exhibit here.

I myself would actually, as I mentioned earlier, like to pursue a certain line

and I am not willing to put certain types of works up on the walls here

here just for the sake of a better sale,

or even if it would be a matter of the dominant current popular taste.

Financial issues have never been nor will be a

part of what keeps Rah Abrisham gallery’s motor running.

Whatever happens, even if we open up a sales office here,

in the end the kind of view over my society which

I have obtained over the years is what really matters as the drive.

Each gallery has got its own views and interests in art,

which usually is the very path the gallery eventually follows up on.

We have many visitors coming over here, up to three to four a day,

asking for a chance to show up their works.

And we always try to accept the ones whose lines of works

would be as possibly close to ours.

All the photographs you see here on the walls are actually

topics I would like to share and talk about

And whenever I make a new choice

I would actually be bringing up a new topic to discuss and swap opinions on.

This gallery for me is like a mirror reflecting on a society,

and a generation, which are both really vast topics

and I never claim to be able to cover them all,

but the ones that actually end up on the walls here,

are the ones we put out there as our new selected topics, that is definitely for sure.

When I take a look at a photograph,

I would have to consider a lot of things with it!

First, I see the photograph itself.

Then I would have to assess its artistic value so to speak.

Second, is lighting, then the framework,

also seeing if the artist has been good enough to be able

to make the most of the latest and most modern equipments

and technology to accomplish an overall impressive technical standard result in the end.

Also checking it up to see how it has been developed

The subject is naturally very important too.

I would also have to look at it from the audience’s point of view

Another thing would be to consider the way authorities see them,

I mean the ones in charge of giving us permits

And last but not least views from visitors,

not at all in charge of anything necessarily

but simply sometimes come over and one of our works

could irritate a certain delicacy or touch a certain nerve

so I should definitely be ready for them as well.

So, as you can see there are many things, yes

In order to be able to run a gallery well

what first and foremost one would need to have the most is patience, and I mean a lot of it!

Second, you certainly have to accept to stand up for yourself

and do something on your own so as to improve it and if it also happen

to be your passion as well as a career path, then I would personally say it is a real wonderful job

Because with each step you take, a new door opens

For example our presence in Paris Photo is something

I am just talking about right now mentioning it all in one sentence

but in reality it is not a place where one could easily find their ways into

In fact, in this particular case I actually made contacts with the French photography world

myself personally to convince them to take us there, and I finally did it.

It is a new world! With new people to get to know,

and each one of these people broadens your mind a little bit

and it is indeed a thought-provoking

real wonderful experience for all photography enthusiasts to be a part of!

And again even if there was no sale for us back there

the doors I just mentioned earlier opening with each step taken

and the view of having these streams coming together to form a river

rivers to form a sea, and seas hopefully finally to an ocean,

serves as the necessary drive I need to have the tendency

to get on with the work itself in the first place

We are in the beginning stages of what galleries

like Alfred Stieglitz did in the late nineteenth century.

This gallery was actually the first photo art gallery in America.

And to this day photographs still hold a big share of the market

among other artwork sales there

so I don’t think it should be any different here in our country either.

Another thing you should expect to have on your way a lot is ups and downs

but in balance, I think photography is among a certain group of visual arts

which is really modern and also very compatible

with all the different kinds of fluctuations there is in societies

and it is also very affected by the events happening all around us in everyday life.

In general I don’t see any reason for this art not to be expecting a real bright future in Iran, I honestly don’t.