BOMB Magazine Award
Hossein Fardinfard (born Iran; lives Amsterdam, the Netherlands) holds a BS in Cartography and an MS in Geomorphology. He has exhibited at venues including Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans; Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa; as well as the National Centre For Photography, Ballarat and Head-On Photo Festival, both Sydney, Australia; Galerie Huit, Arles, France; LoosenArt, Rome, Italy; Kahmann Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Somerset House, London, UK, plus the world’s first photography exhibition in space organized by the British Journal of Photography. Fardinfard’s work has been acknowledged by Sony World Photography, PDN Photo Annual, Lucie Awards, Portrait of Humanity, OpenWalls Arles and GUP magazine.
Statement from the Artist:
I use my photographic practice and conversations with my subjects to mirror myself. The more I understand people, the better I know myself. In my opinion, portraits make up the identity and character of a region or generation, marrying faces to culture and the world at large. My work could be portraits of Abkhaz refugees living in the massive, abandoned buildings that had been famous luxury sanitariums in the Soviet era, or self-portraits reflecting my personal concerns during post-Covid times, in the age of capitalism and consumerism. Initially interested in street photography, my focus shifted to documentary and environmental portrait photography. Fascinated with the contours of the Earth, I felt drawn to study the contours of the human spirit more closely. Questions of identity and social issues continue to orient my work.