the black snapper

Beauty can be found in the decay, and the haunted can be inspiring, but what is at the roots of this decidedly odd interest in old, decrepit, moldering places? In Mehrdad Naraghi’s work I find a visual beauty to these structures that transcends their past utility. We feel the signs and symbols of habitation in the house and its space, remembrance and meaning. Protector, memory store, place in the world, a house is all these things, and it can be like that anywhere. We begin to see that spaces are actually more than the sum of their parts, that there are intimacies and experiences that connect us with the houses and rooms we grew up in, that are deeply rooted, and which form a core part of our experiences, memories and dreams. The artist wants to unlock some of those memories and touch on collective memories of our own. We see the rooms themselves and the objects and details within them as keys to understanding. In a visually poetic way Naraghi reveals hidden aspects of our experience of space. I read his work as both sensitive and sensual interpretations of enclosures, inside/outside, and other spatial phenomena, evoking and referencing such concepts as the nest, the shell, the corner, the drawer, etc. These visuals want to be savored slowly by our eyes.