© Alireza Malekian, Trees, Mashhad, Iran, 2013

Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started? What are your memories of your first shots?

Alireza Malekian (AM): After finishing high school I bought a compact camera to make short film. But I ended up liking photography more than cinema.

How did your research evolve with respect to those early days?

AM: It’s very unconscious. When I think about why I like to make an image like I do and why I’m interested in places more than people, I don’t have an answer. I believe It’s related to my experiences during the process of growing up and dealing with the world that surrounded me.

© Alireza Malekian, Trees, Mashhad, Iran, 2013

Tell us about your educational path. B.A in Visual Communication at Ferdows University of Mashhad. What are your best memories of your studies? What was your relationship with photography at that time?

AM: Everybody in my class knew that I’m in love with this media. Before I was accepted in Ferdows University, I was already very active. Studying there was coincided with studying more about photography’s techniques and history. One or two classes helped me in this way. My best memory is to see myself to be more than an art student and becoming an artist who has something to offer.

What were the courses that you were passionate about and which have remained meaningful for you?

AM: Photography courses of course. I started my carrier as an author when I wrote two articles about two of Iranian photographers for my class. I don’t like those articles anymore but since then I always enjoyed writing about photography. 

© Alireza Malekian, People, Mashhad, Iran, 2013

Any professor or teacher that has allowed you to better understand your work?

AM: No. I never showed my projects to any of my teachers. They may have seen them in social medias but I never asked for their opinion.

What do you think about teaching methodology in the era of digital and social networking?

AM: It’s impossible to understand contemporary situation of photography without having a knowledge of history and methodology of it. 

About your work now. How would you describe your personal research in general?

AM: I always ask myself: what is photography and how can I use it to describe what I think about being a human in my culture, geographical location and environment. I try to make my art with a non-narrative and aesthetic language that has a visible theoretical background. In a way, each series shows my recent thoughts about the questions that I mentioned earlier.

© Alireza Malekian, Hometown, Mashhad, Iran, 2013

Do you have any preferences in terms of cameras and format?

AM: I’m happy with my 60D and 15-85 lens. However, In prefect world, I would like to photograph my projects with a large format. And a rangefinder would be nice for second camera.

© Alireza Malekian, Divide, Qom, Iran, 2014

Is there any contemporary artist or photographer, even if young and emerging, that influenced you in some way? 

AM: Abbas Kiarostami; Takeshi Kitano; David Hockney; Bernd and Hilla Becher; Lee Friedlander; Gary Winogrand; Lewis Baltz; Joel Meyerowitz and Nicholas Nixon mostly because of his photographs of Boston. And Stephen Shore.

Three books of photography that you recommend?  

‘Photography: A Critical Introduction’ by Liz Wells and others; 
‘The Body and the Archive’ by Allan Sekula. 
Also I find Routledge’s ‘Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Photography’ very interesting. 

Is there any show you’ve seen recently that you find inspiring? 

AM: A video about the process of making ‘Me, Body, Motherland’ project by Shahrzad Changalvaee, presented at Aban Art Gallery in Mashhad, Iran. I was familiar with her work and this specific series, but I enjoyed this video as an individual artwork about Iranian culture.

© Alireza Malekian, Space, Mashhad, Iran, 2013

© Alireza Malekian, Space, Mashhad, Iran, 2013

Projects that you are working on now and plans for the future? 

AM: Beside working on number of academic papers; I’m planing on photographing a new series and also a web base cooperative project. It’s soon to talking about any of them because there is a lot to figuring out. I just hope to make them work.

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LINKS
Alireza Malekian 
Iran