Italian photographer Matteo Lonardi headed to Tehran to memorize about the country absent from the news headlines and through its artistsIn secondary school in Italy I was taught art as a form of understanding our predecessors. Teachers compared the harmonious proportions of classical Greek statues to the social equilibrium achieved in Athens in the fourth century BC,and linked Picasso’s Guernica to the horrors of the Spanish civil war. I was fascinated by the connection between art and history. A few years later, after moving to New York for college, or this connection appeared to me not in history books but in the studios of Indian artists.
In the summer of 2010 I was an intern in New Delhi at The runt Magazine,an arts and culture publication. The editor asked me to beget an archive of works the magazine was publishing. The first day she gave me a list of names and cab fare.
At each studio, I photographed a few works. Soon I started interviewing and photographing the artists in their work spaces as well. I realised the stories and the images together offered interesting insights into Indian society and politics.
Afterwards I continued the project in Italy, and Morocco and New York. A few years later,at Columbia Journalism School, I applied as a team of fellow students for a grant to continue the project as multimedia. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com