Group Presentation | "Right About Here": Dastan x Guesthouse LA

Dastan presents “Right About Here”, a group exhibition concurrent with Frieze Los Angeles 2024 at Kour Pour Guest House opening on the 27th of February, 2024. The show features the works of Arash Hanaei, Alborz Kazemi, Newsha Tavakolian, Sina Shiri, Maryam Takhtkeshian, and Mehran Mohajer. “Right About Here” explores the dense megapolis of Tehran through the lens of six photographers with unique expressions and styles, looking at the city through their narratives and imagery. 

Following his works that depicted murals and billboards in Tehran, Arash Hanaei’s practice moved towards a timeless and placeless state. In his more recent works, he combines a plethora of elements to present a certain socio-cultural aura, neither a dystopia nor a utopia. 

The photographs in Mehran Mohajer’s “Tehran Undated” (2009) series were taken with a pinhole camera. They depict an image of the streets of Tehran. Almost half of the image is dominated by a wall, referencing his practice of reverting to them and sheltering.

Alborz Kazemi is presented with his series “Comradeship” (2009-2015), in which he pictures Tehran’s inner layers. The photographs depict intimate parties, nightlife, and an insightful glimpse into the life of the city’s younger generations. 

Sina Shiri has crafted a unique style of street photography that intertwines Tehran’s urban setting with its people and their stories. His wide portraits, often taken using medium-format analog photography, create immersive insights into the lives of Tehran’s citizens. 

Maryam Takhtkeshian’s photographs in her “Pandora” (2020) series depict the ubiquitous electric switch boxes that are part of the urban scenery of the streets of Tehran. Having been established as a symbolic stage for dissidence, Takhtkeshian’s photography portrays them as lonely and forgotten. 

In Newsha Tavakolian’s work, “Iran, Freedom Sq.” (2015), Tehran’s most iconic landmark, Azadi [Freedom] Tower rises through vividly colored scattered balloons forming a configuration that appears like a rainbow.