Raoofeh Rostami

The image is one of the primary means through which I think and make work. My interest lies not only in what an image represents, but also in its capacity to shift the conditions of seeing and reconsider what has already been known or experienced.

My work often begins with something that already exists: an image, an object, a place, an event, or an experience. Rather than simply reproducing or representing it, I bring it into relation with another element to which it is already connected. This second element may take the form of an image, a repetition, a re-enactment, a reconstruction, or another manifestation of the first. I call this approach *Based On*.

In this approach, the relationship between the two elements is not created from nothing; an existing connection is brought into a new situation. One element may originate from the other, refer to it, or exist as a transformed version of it. What interests me, however, is the possibility of moving beyond this one-way relationship. Within the new situation, each element may alter how the other is seen and understood. What initially served as a reference or point of departure can itself become open to reinterpretation through what has emerged from it.

What I seek is not a meaning concealed within either element, but the possibility of an experience or understanding that emerges through their relationship, one that would not take the same form through an encounter with either element alone.

Across my projects, this approach takes different forms: returning to an image and re-enacting it, transferring traces of one place into another, or altering the spatial and bodily conditions through which an audience encounters a work. Photography, video, performance, and installation offer different means of constructing these situations.

For me, *Based On* is less about returning to an original or producing another version of it than about reconfiguring an existing relationship. It is an attempt to open up a new possibility for something familiar to be seen, experienced, or understood differently through its relationship with something else.

Education

• BA In photography, Art University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran, 2004-2007

Experience as a press photographer

• Fajr International Theater Festival, Iran, 2008-2022

• Shargh Newspaper, Iran, 2014-2022

• Senior photo editor for Exir Magazine, Iran, 2017

• Cinema Newspaper, Iran, 2015

• Bani Film Newspaper, Iran, 2006-2009

Solo Exhibition

• More than 90 degrees, Rishe Gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2023

• Do you have a good feeling under your skin?, Westwerk gallery, Hamburg, Germany, 2020

• Second Time, AG gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2019

• Public-Private, Shirin gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2014

Group Exhibition

• Denunciation, ACC gallery, Weimar, Germany, 2024

• Self Portraits of Artists, Iranian Artist Forum, Tehran, Iran, 2022

• Humble Arts Foundation and Strange Fire Collective's "Four Degrees: Eco-Anxiety and Climate Change" online

• Exhibition, 2021

• Public-Private, Pasinger Fibrik gallery, Munich, Germany, 2014

• ‘Biname' a photography touring exhibition

• Richmond House gallery, Bristol, United Kingdom, 2016

• Penarth Fotogallery, United Kingdom, 2013

• Cardiff Museum, Cardiff, United Kingdom,2013

• Black and white photography, Art Center Gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2010

Prize

• PX3 competition, Silver, Category: Book (Series only), People-Professional, 2017

• 3rd prize winner of women and urban life, Tehran, Iran, 2008

Residency

• ACC gallery, Weimar, Germany, 2023

• The Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media, Hamburg, Germany, 2021