In Parallel

2018

Archival Inkjet Prints

29 x 38 cm (each)

Exhibited at the Bundoora Homestead art Centre as part of The Family Mantle, curated by Pia Johnson

featuring works by Katayoun Javan, Pia Johnson, Janelle Low, Morganna Magee, Andy Mullens, Talia Smith

In Parallel is a set of photographs , which reveal the life of my parents and myself thirty years ago captured by my dad Bahram Basseghi in Iran, 1988 together with my partner, my son and I captured by myself in Australia 2018 a generation later.

My mum and I are exactly 34 years old in the photographs. We all sit on the same chair as new parents. My four year old self and my two year old son peer through my dad’s camera with the same innocent and inquisitive gaze towards the world.

These photographs are set in two homes, in the northern and southern hemisphere which continue to chart the ebb and flow of family members, highlighting the in between state, the feeling of duality arising from the turmoil in Iran and since our migration to Australia.

The chair, having also travelled from Tehran to Melbourne however, is the common link as our presence will eventually fade. It will remain for generations to come and the unknown parallels of the future ahead.

Documentation photographs by Pia Johnson and Bundoora Homestead