Zooming in on archival images of large demonstrations, Amin Yousefi looked for protestors who locked eyes with the camera. Anonymous faces stare into the photographer’s lens, clearly showing awareness of being captured, inviting the viewer to look back. Intriguingly, the photographer at the time was most likely unaware of the returning gazes—due to the size of the crowds and the limitations of a 35mm camera viewfinder. In this instance, Yousefi argues, it seems those photographed are in control of the image, rather than the photographer, as one might expect.

The Iranian revolution stands as a paramount milestone in the Middle East over the past five decades, exerting multifaceted ramifications that have reverberated throughout the region. Yousefi’s project highlights individuals who looked out from among the masses at a critical moment in history and stared into the lens of a camera.

With the help of a magnifying glass, Yousefi rephotographed each of them—connecting himself with these individuals across time and space and isolating them into a newly formed crowd. ‘Eyes Dazzle as they Search for the Truth’ examines how our knowledge about the past is formed through archival images. By turning his camera to those who looked back, Yousefi tries to understand the impact of one of the most influential events in Iranian contemporary history.

The exhibition presents an excerpt of this extensive project consisting of fifty portraits. 

Artist Bio:

Amin Yousefi (b.1996, Abadan, Iran) holds an MA in Photography from the University of Westminster. He lives and works as a writer, researcher, and image-based artist in London. He has participated in several international exhibitions and prizes, including recently being named a 2024 Foam Talent winner. His recent project, ‘Eyes Dazzle as They Search for the Truth,’ was selected as a finalist of the Carte Blanche Awards at Paris Photo in 2022 and subsequently shown with Ag Gallery at Unseen Art Fair 2023 in Amsterdam. His work has been published in magazines such as Hapax, Source, and Aperture, with the article in which he interviewed three artists on ‘What It Means to Make Photographs as a Young Artist in Iran’. Yousefi has also undertaken compelling commission works, including the ‘Ruderal Acts’ project showcased as part of the HerMAP Art Project at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Yousefi has an upcoming exhibition in Kranj Foto Fest, Slovenia. A native of Abadan in the province of Khuzestan, Iran’s most oil-rich region and the scene of bloody war with neighbouring Iraq, Yousefi’s work examines the event of photography through the socio-political aspect of the medium. His primary concern lies in the implications of the archive, exploring violence against protests in the Middle East enacted by the state and how the act of photography can conceptually mirror the structures of these relationships.