My friend Anahita Ghabaian, the owner of Silk Road Gallery, invited me to go and see her great photo collection at the Grand Palais. I went and discovered the most beautiful women of the world! I didn’t know many of the newcomers to the scene like Paolo Roversi:
The above photo reminds me of my friend, Maureen.
I liked his other-worldly portraits where even the nudes were not in your face!
A jewel of a photo for me was Brancusi’s Eileen on the bench of his studio; I have appreciated his sculptures for ever and his “sleeping muse” kept me company for years.
The highlight for me was the Silk Gallery’s Persian Women; I met the super talented Shadi Ghadirian with her new collection of Miss Butterfly (Shahparak khanom):
A graceful and delicate butterfly/woman gets trapped in the web of a spider…
I knew her for her “Ghajar” and “Like Everyday” collections:
The late Bahman Jalali’s “image of imagination” was watching me quietly from the wall:
Iranian photographers’ works are regularly presented to museums and other institutions everywhere thanks to the Silk Road Gallery ; I like Rana Javadi’s Termeh clad woman:
There was a gorgeous sun setting on Grand Palais that made everything glow in the golden hour; perfect for taking pictures!
After Iran I went to Africa starting from Egypt and Youssef Nabil’s taunting girls:
then to Morocco and Lalla Essaydi’s “I want to be Shirin Neshat when I grow up” image; there is something about the written text that fascinates me:
The great surprise were the other Africans like this beautiful portrait, by Soungalo Malé, of this girl in her sunday suit in 1960; she looks at you with modesty but elegance:
I fell in love with this vintage photo of Ian Berry’s African Collection; a small print that made me smile:
The energy of the place made me forget my aching feet so I plowed on…
I was happy to see Sissi Farassat’s Andrea, swimming in a sea of sequins:
I love fashion photography and I wasn’t disappointed! Cathleen Naundorf’s Dior 2007 collection made me want to color it pink:
Kate Moss was omnipresent but I liked Annie Leibovitz’s protrait of hers (bellow); she is best friends with the camera and many of her portraits were shouting from multiple galleries!
I saw Leibovitz’s pilgrimage photos too and I loved them all; here is the one I like to include here with all its majesty:
On the other end of the spectrum was Chris Bucklow‘s a thousand points of light that reminded me of Castaneda’s Don Genaro!
I like big cities and skyscrapers so I easily connected with Gail Albert Halaban’s “Dance studio” from her Out my window NY city collection. Put that on your wall and the whole world changes…
The sun was shining when I went in the Grand Palais,
and I came out when it was growing dark; the site of the Petit Palais in the Parisian “blue hour” was indeed majestic:
Visit the Silk Road Gallery here