Reza Aramesh

Reza Aramesh’s soon found his medium of predilection in photography - ideal form in which to meld his interest in the history of painting, film and literature with modern society and politics. In his series entitled, Between the Eye and the Object Falls a Shadow…, Aramesh freezes in black and white re-enacted scenes of disputes that took place in the Middle East or in Vietnam from the 1960 to the present day. These classic and dramatic scenes found their incongruous setting in lavish British homes and historical museums. This audacious subversion of space and time came to the fore in Aramesh’s Action 71. Here, Aramesh invited homeless individuals to spend their night in selected rooms of the Tate Britain, sleeping with portraits produced between the seventeenth and eighteenth century representing individuals that focused on status and lineage.

Reza Aramesh was born in Awhaz, Iran in 1970. He left his homeland at the age of fifteen to London where he first achieved an undergraduate in chemistry, he then decided to redirect his life and completed a Master’s in Fine Art at the Goldsmith College in 1997. He currently lives and works in London.

Reza Aramesh’s photographic, sculptural, video and performance works have received international acclaim. His work has been featured in solo shows in Dubai, Shanghai, Rabat as well as in London at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Barbican Centre, Tate Britain and at the ICA.