Ones to Watch 2025 – Atefe Moeini

Since arriving within the US, Moeini’s work has taken on new layers. “In Iran, after the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, I found myself not being able to make pictures anymore,” she says. “Before that it was also hard, but after that I became very conscious of it.” Working inside home areas and photographing mates behind closed doorways turned a type of resistance. Now within the US, she is exploring this new freedom – albeit one with its personal problems. “Here I’m more free in a way… but it’s also a new landscape for me. I still have to find the things that I like.”

Moeini is presently centered on making portraits of Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles, however within the meantime, her digicam is popping inward, exploring private area and reminiscence. “I’m photographing my friends, and I’m also making self-portraits, photographing objects I brought from Iran,” she says of the materials, college uniforms, and state-issued propaganda supplies created for youngsters which she introduced along with her to the US and engages with instantly in her work.

An curiosity in contact, care and physicality runs via Moeini’s work. “I’m interested in gestures of solidarity and togetherness,” she explains, referencing a robust picture of three ladies embracing, two of them with their faces shrouded. In one other {photograph}, a lady walks on a treadmill in an underground gymnasium. “For a long time, I didn’t feel safe to photograph in public. I thought, maybe I should photograph only in domestic spaces,” Moeini says. “And using flash as an artificial light, I kind of combined these two words: artificial freedom. The freedom that I was feeling wasn’t real.”

“Atefe’s work reminds us to look at the hidden stories that might have been forgotten. She tells these stories with honesty, care and a deep sense of collaboration. Her vision reveals the truths that often remain unseen,” says the artist and educator Amak Mahmoodian, who nominated Moeini for Ones to Watch.

Moeini’s follow resists decision or closure. “My work is more like theatre in that it’s live, and every day changes,” she says. These days, she is engaged on a brand new mission combining archival supplies with images to discover intergenerational reminiscence in Iranian households.

@atefemoein

This is an up to date model of the article from BJP situation 7922, which contained inaccuracies we’re pleased to right. BJP apologises for any confusion triggered.