Your name
Samin Ahmadzadeh
Place of birth
Tehran, Iran
Place where you live now
London, UK
3 words to describe you
Organised - Enthusiastic - Friendly
Why do you take pictures?
Photography for me is the documentation of who we are, what we do; a record of a moment in time.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Weaving has a strong tradition in Iranian culture and can been seen in different forms such as fabrics and carpets. Being raised in such an environment definitely influenced me and led me to explore weaving photographs to tell a story. I’ve also always been fascinated by the geometrical elements used in Iranian architecture and also by the amazing details in all their tiles.
Who are your influences?
I always follow the work of contemporary artists who are working with found imagery using different processes, John Stezaker, Kensuke Koike and Susana Blasco being favourites.
What determines the subject matter you choose?
I have always had a great interest in personal photographic archives, and I felt that through contemporary representations, I could provide the space for further analysis.
What impact would you like your art to have?
My work narrates a private history and represents glimpses of the past and intimate memories, but at the same time, they can also be considered as a public (social) document with wider meanings and a true representation of a certain culture and who we are.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
'The Splash' by David Hockney
Is there anything you want to add?
No thank you :)

Family Tree
Project statement

Samin’s work is based on weaving archival photographs together with a focus on the wider concepts of memory and cultural identity. She explores how memory of our experiences can contribute to our perceived identities.

She applies the interwoven images to birch plywood surfaces that are then sanded and varnished, resulting in a three-dimensional object. Weaving has become synonymous with her practice, becoming a motif within her work. The process of physically manipulating portraits allows her to explore the relationship between form, colour, and surface to illustrate her ideas on memory.

She attempts to describe the memories of people and the weavings are a pictorial description of the memory process. Photography for her is the documentation of who we are, what we do; a record of a moment in time. While the photographic medium is the starting point of her practice, she experiments with image manipulation to better illustrate her ideas concerning cross-cultural perspectives on identity.

samin ahmadzadeh
@samin_ahmadzadeh