Memento Collage

‘Memento’ is a series of work, part of an ongoing project based on the background of my father, who lived in the UK’s boarding schools as an Iranian boy since the age of three. It concentrates on the period of his life, when he was being raised as a British boy far from his family and his original Iranian background. The collected archive of photographs represents the two different cultural backgrounds he was experiencing while growing up as a child. This project brings together the contradictory values, ideas and beliefs that have shaped the persona and identity of my father as a result of being raised in two completely different cultures. ‘Photo Weavings’ is one part of the 'Memento' series in which two photographs that represent the different upbringings are shredded and weaved together. With the shredding of the images I re-create the fragmentation of a memory. The two photographs are then combined as a weaving. This final abstracted image can be interpreted as a recall of his unconscious being formed as a result of his life experiences between an Eastern and a Western society.