Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Westminster
'Another Country'
Composed of eight large-scale (122 cm x 155/200 cm) photographic images depicting Muslims of Middle Eastern origin living in the UK, 'Another Country' examines the East/West cultural divide by focussing obliquely on the politics of everyday life. A standalone series of photographs in its own right, 'Another Country' can also be viewed as one element of an ongoing project (see Outputs 1, 2 and 4) by Tabrizian to rework the documentary genre in ways that raise questions about the relationship between individuals and their environment and explore the possibilities for political art.
Please see portfolio for full documentation of research dimensions.
Tabrizian’s research here centres on representations of the immigrant in contemporary photographic art. In its reworking of the documentary genre, in which real people enact their own lives in real locations, she avoids the overworked focus on economic exploitation, to depict episodes from the daily lives of a long-established but closed community. Like 'Tehran Project' (Output 2), 'Another Country' touches on the themes of resilience and survival. Though not uncritical of certain aspects of the cultural and religious practices of the community she depicts, Tabrizian’s main concern is to play with the audience’s perceptions. Each carefully constructed image is designed to raise questions in the viewer’s mind: What does it mean to be a “westerner” in today’s culture of diversity? Have the notions of “East” and “West” become increasingly slippery, and no longer rooted in geography? How do we define “otherness” – is it maybe more fluid than we thought? For a viewer in the UK, where the images were originally unveiled, ‘another country’ and ‘this country’ turn out to be one and the same place. 'Another Country' deliberately eschewed digital production processes and was shot on 5 x 4 film and printed on photographic paper. The project required months of location research and engagement with her subjects. The east- and west-London-based Muslim communities featured were wary of outsiders and it took almost a year to gain access. The images form the centre-piece of the artist’s book 'Mitra Tabrizian: Another Country', which includes all the artist’s work since 2004, together with essays by Homi Bhabha, David Green and Hamid Naficy.
