Beyond the Faces

About Portraits By Ali Sabouki

Days are followed by nights, nights turn into days, days into weeks, weeks into months, months into years and years into centuries. People come and go, and this is repeated again and again. People are destined to die. Death is unavoidable. Take a look at obituary notices ! The last portraits with names, addresses and causes of death. Obituary notices are our direct encounter with people whose outer world differentiate from inner world. We can clearly see the person in the photo is no longer there, or to put it simply, the photo is soulless. It shows us that humans need spirit to be considered alive. Today’s modern life has made us into people who hardly look at each other or greet each other. We are only concerned with our own lives, and try to avoid the watchful gaze of those who remind us of ourselves. The current collection of portraits creates an opportunity to sit and have a heart-to-heart chat to look into each other’s eyes. The people in this photos are hidden behind their faces. A woman in love, a man longing desperately for his beloved, a woman with a flower in hand overcome with despair. They each have their own stories which could be understood from their faces. Their eyes are innocent, but mysteriously seductive, even they are closed. You can stare into those eyes and ask, “what is your story, my dear?”

Beyond these faces are the inner children who don’t seem to be alive anymore. And that’s what has stolen smile from their faces and made them so anxious. This collection is the story of our lives, our inner and outer world, beautiful and ugly, our strange feelings and emotions in the world today.

Hamed Barei Tabari / March 2016