On Thursday, October 6, Bijan Roghanchi, Columbia High School Class of 2004, will be celebrating the publication of his second book with an opening of his photography at Shirin Gallery NY in Chelsea.
It’s been a dizzying journey from his childhood in Maplewood to his years living as a young adult with family in Iran and then back to New Jersey. In a two-part essay for an online magazine called World of Lola, Roghanchi wrote specifically about his hyper-visual memories of growing up in a duplex on Dunnell Road and his experiences in the halls of Columbia High School as well as what it was like to be an Iranian-American teenager during and after the events of September 11, 2001:
During the first week of my sophomore year in high school two planes flew into the World Trade Center. The smoke of the collapsed towers was visible from my home town. Whatever divide existed in me before 9/11 it was increased exponentially afterward. Within a year Iran was added to the Axis of Evil. By the time I graduated we were at war in Afghanistan and Iraq and a day didn’t go by without Iran in the headlines. And for all the articles and front page images nothing reconciled with the imagined place I dreamt up as a young boy.
The desire to travel to Iran wasn’t born from the experiences of my adolescence or early adulthood. That drive began in childhood. Iran was the place where my father was from and where my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins still lived. …
With time the nature of that trip did change. I had picked up the camera, my two way lens to look out at the world and into myself. I’d traveled, lived and worked overseas. I finally had the tools I needed to explore my other half – the imagined side. ….
Three and a half months later I was waiting in Newark’s Liberty International Airport to board my flight and begin a 27 hour journey via London and Frankfurt to Tehran.
The following release is from Shirin Gallery NY:
Becoming Iranian by Bijan Roghanchi
October 6 – October 15, 2016
Book Launch Reception
Thursday, October 6
6-8pm
Shirin Gallery NY, 511 West 25th Street, New York
Shirin Gallery NY is pleased to invite you to the Book launch and signing of photographer Bijan Roghanchi’s new work, Becoming Iranian (HELEDEN Press, 2016). The book, which features Roghanchi’s photographs, explores themes of nationalism and identity in contemporary Iran, while he seeks out his own identity as an Iranian and American. Additionally, some of Roghanchi’s works from the book will be on exhibit from Thursday, October 6 through Saturday, October 15, 2016.
Shirin Gallery NY is pleased to present the Book launch of photographer Bijan Roghanchi’s new work, Becoming Iranian (HELEDEN Press, 2016). The book, which features Roghanchi’s photographs, explores themes of nationalism and identity in contemporary Iran, while he seeks out his own identity as an Iranian and American.
SYNOPSIS
Born and raised in the United States to an Iranian father and American mother Bijan grew up in between two worlds, often feeling like he belonged to neither.
In June 2011, he moved to Iran to spend a year understanding the place where his father was born and raised, and to which he had never been. Speaking not a word of Farsi he went to meet his family and ask what it meant to be Iranian. The goal was to spend one year in Iran; 4 months in Tehran learning the language and meeting family, 4 months in the north of the country where his family originates and the last 4 months traveling throughout the country.
The ensuing body of work would use his lens of personal identity to reflect on contemporary Iran. Within several weeks of arriving Bijan was denied a medical exemption from mandatory national conscription. He could have left Iran before 90 days without serving in the military, been conscripted for 21 months, or paid $10,000 dollars to avoid the draft all together.
He decided to stay and for the next two and a half years he photographed his way through the country. It took a year to pay off the military, teaching English for $2.40 an hour. He made friends, fell in and out of love, and joined the ranks of Tehran’s wandering souls. He traveled through- out the country, road tripping with friends through Iranian Kurdistan, Azerbaijan and the Turkmen Sahra.
He hitchhiked across the central Iranian desert from Isfahan to the Afghan border near Tabas and ferried between the islands of the Persian Gulf. Becoming Iranian is a collection of 81 photographs narrated by captions and journal entries. The entire body of work numbers nearly 30,000 photographs, hours of audio interviews and reams of journals. It was successfully funded via Indiegogo on November 9th, 2015 and released in print from Helden Press in July, 2016.
ARTIST
Bijan Roghanchi
Bijan Roghanchi is a New York City based photographer and writer. His most recent work, Becoming Iranian (Helden Press, 2016), explores themes of nationalism and identity in modern Iran. He holds a B.A. in photography from New Jersey City University and certificates in languages from universities in Spain, France and Iran. Before beginning work on Becoming Iranian in 2011 Bijan worked primarily as a commercial photographer and has worked on projects that include clients such as Pepsi, Kraft, Crown Royal, and Lexus. He also produced several smaller documentary projects in Spain, France, Hungary and Morocco. His work has been featured online and in print for publications including The Guardian, Tehran Bureau, World of Lola and Radio Farda. www.bijanroghanchi.com
Shirin Gallery NY is a contemporary art gallery and platform for curatorial and educational activities that seek to foster international cultural exchange. Originally established in Tehran in 2005, the gallery opened a New York space in 2013 in Chelsea’s gallery district. The New York space furthers Shirin Gallery’s commitment to exhibiting works that push the boundaries of contemporary art, as well as international perceptions of the Middle East.
Click on photos to enlarge:
