States of Democracy

 

Mia Adams      Hina Barla     Yasmina Chavez      Jake Dockins      Lindsay Garcia     Martin Krafft    Michael Marks

Ashanti McGee      Stacy Arezou Mehrfar        Kelley O’Brien

 

 

Stacy Arezou Mehrfar

Title: A Vollective Performance, 2018

 

About the work:

 When we picture protest, we envision a mass.  We see hordes of people storming, chanting, arms raised, fists pumped, in unison. These are the images not only in our minds eye, but also presented to us by the press, social media, and by the chronicles of history, for the success of a movement is often assumed by crowd size. And when we, as individuals, present ourselves at a demonstration, we feel empowered, virtuous, a significant part of the whole.  Standing in the midst of these crowds, storming with my fellow citizens, I became hyper aware of the stages set by the convergence of these individuals that form the collective.  “A Collective Performance,” was created with 4500+ photographs that I made at over 40 protests from 2017-2018. This experimental stop motion video piece explores constructs of identity, social cohesion, and the formation of a temporal community.

 

Biography:

Stacy Mehrfar’s practice begins with the still photograph. Working within and against the documentary tradition, her works explore themes of place and belonging, memory and narrative, and the symbiotic relationship between the individual and the collective.

In 2008 Stacy immigrated to Australia, where she completed an MFA by Research in Photomedia at UNSW School of Art & Design and lectured at several arts colleges. Her works have been exhibited Internationally, in venues such as TEDx, Australian Centre of Photography, State Library of NSW, ClampArt, International Center of Photography, and Obscura Festival.  Stacy currently resides in New York City and teaches at the International Center of Photography and School of Visual Arts.

 

Duration: 2 minutes 47 seconds

 

website: www.stacymehrfar.com