← 2020 Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts

Elaheh Ahmadi

Honorable Mention, 2020 Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts
More about the artist

Trapped

Black and white 35mm film, assorted digital and gelatin silver prints. 8×10 inches. 2019.

Trapped is about struggles that women face in society due to their sexuality. Every photo shoot is designed and directed based on the model’s personal life and background. This project aims to raise awareness while helping women be comfortable sharing their struggles.

In her portraits Ahmadi aims to help her subjects embrace their challenges and to let the world know what that they are going through, rather than suppressing these experiences.

More information about the project

Black and white gelatin silver print of a figure sitting on the floor in a corner with mirrored walls. Both their hands are around their knees and a series of crew socks hanging down from above.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.

A figure wears high heels and sits in a chair in an aisle of bookcases, their face blurred by movement during a slow camera exposure.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.
Black and white photograph of a side profile of a figure wearing a translucent black scarf drapped around their head and shoulders.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.
Black and white photograph of the nude shoulders and face of a figure with their long dark hair wrapped neatly around their neck.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.

Black and white photograph looking up at a figure standing in a glass elavator with both of their hands on the wall.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.

Black and white film photograph of a figure in jeans and tall boots on a beach with a lifeguard tower in the distance.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.
A figure lays on the ground with their long dark hair spread on the floor among a series of electric cables.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.
Black and white photograph of a figure in a room with walls covered in graffiti, sitting facing the camera but backwards on a cafe chair with their arms held up over their face.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.

Black and white photograph of a figure sitting on the ground in a transit station with both of their hands around their knees and leaning against a floral patterned suitcase.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.
Side profile of a figure with their hand up to the camera, partially obscured by the shadow of a loose weave fabric.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.

Black and white photograph of a figure facing the camera wearing a translucent black scarf drapped around their head and covering their mouth.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Trapped.

When Did We Stop Thinking?

Black and white 35mm film, gelatin silver prints. 2019.

Beginning in Fall 2019, Ahmadi was inspired to work on a project that expanded beyond her interest in the struggles of women in modern society into more universal consideration of what all of us struggle within our daily lives.

As a result, she put together a series of photos and wrote an essay that works as an instruction guide to the narrative behind the images. The photographs and the essay may at first appear chaotic and unrelated, like puzzle pieces, but she aims for her audience to find a deeper connection among the disparate parts.

More information about the project

Using a shallow depth of field, a young person's face is in crisp focus while a series of hanging crew socks surrounding them are blurred.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.
Black and white gelatin silver print of a stony waterfall presented upside down.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.

Black and white photograph of tree branches that disappear into a haze in the distance.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.

The shadow of a figure is cast across pavement and onto grass.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.

Black and white gelatin silver print of a plant back lit by a window.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.

Close up black and white photograph of a young person's face obscured by loosely woven fabric.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.

The shadow of a hand reaches across a wall of metal grate.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts Honorable Mention Elaheh Ahmedi’s Why Did We Stop Thinking?.

Cry Out (فریاد)

Photogram and makeup. 2020.

Between November 2019 and January 2020, the people of Iran were struck by three dramatic and stressful events. First, a total government shutdown of the internet in response to citizen protests over gas prices; second, the threat of war between the Iranian and U.S. governments; and third, the accidental shooting of a passenger plane that took the lives of 176 innocent people. The pain of these events was felt acutely in Iran, and by Iranians like Ahmadi who were living and studying around the world.

She describes the inspiration for her piece Cry Out:

“During all of these incidents, I found myself powerless and miles away from everything that was happening at my home and with my family in Iran. I felt powerless when I had to be the messenger of this news to my friends and hear them sob over the phone or cry in my arms.

At that time, I was introduced to a poem, “Cry out (فریاد),” by Akhavan Sales. The poet talks about his house being on fire. Everyone around him is deep asleep and he is crying out and trying to stop the fire, but he ends up being burned and fainting. His house is a metaphor for his country, and how deeply he wants to catch the fire, but he feels powerless. Nothing could put words to how I was feeling better than this poem. And that is how my piece, Cry Out, was initiated. I printed a negative from his poem, took it to the darkroom, and let my feelings take care of the rest. I exposed 9 papers with this poem, and then I lay down on the paper and exposed the rest of the paper. After the print was done, I took a red lipstick, an eyeliner, a mascara, and started writing and drawing on the print.”

More information about the project

Nine individual photograms lay tiled together forming a single silouette of a figure with the text of a Persian poem overlayed.
2020 Harold and Arlene Schniter Prize in the Visual Arts First Place Recipient Elaheh Ahmadi’s Cry Out.

About the Artist

Elaheh Ahmadi is a visual and performance artist and computer engineer from Tehran, Iran, currently based in Boston. She utilizes photography, performance, and writing to raise awareness of contemporary social issues, particularly problems of sexism, racism, and human rights. She is currently studying in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, while independently developing her artistic practice and finding her creative voice.

More at Elaheh Ahmadi’s website

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