When The Kid Was A Kid

When my sister and her husband announced that they intended to leave Iran, fear and stress of being separated from my nephews rushed into me and gradually seized me. Since their birth, I have been with them and witnessed their growth each day of their lives. A particular type of relationship has been formed during these years between us, and now I considered that relationship vanished. The only way to pass the time was taking photos and spending time with them. However, the question was, what was I supposed to record? What could I take for me profoundly?

Searching one of my photos’ archives, I found pictures of them, which I had considered destroyed ones. Due to the unpredictability of their motions and decisions, I lost controlling issues when pushing the shutter it disturbed the focus and flashlight of photos. In other words, one can say that the pictures were not what I expected. Such confrontations with these photos led me towards another layer of my relationship with these children. I became aware of the world I had been living in during that period. I noticed that children were the actual directors of that time and place. They were refractory objects separated from the subjects lost among my subjective viewpoint; it was a world against adults’ structured world full of controls, discipline, and balance, which were its main characteristics for me. It became a starting point for me regarding taking photos of children; it was an exploration of a world that I call the kids’ world; a world in which language is not complete yet, and the most crucial motive of life is still emotions. I think such exploration’s achievement is the thing that will link me with those two kids and specifically that unique world forever.