[ISEA2002] Artist Statement: Shirin Kouladijie — photomontage.com

Artist Statement

We unconsciously demand the application of certain elementary principles in the arrangements which surround us in daily Me. These principles are so simple that when they are complied with, one is not even aware of the source of one’s satisfaction. On the other hand the violation of these simple principles will give rise to a feeling of disappointment which is none the less actual for being, sometimes, quite indefinable. The success of each project in my site,  depends in a measure on correct balance in every sense this medium – digital art website – has to offer. What I build is a collage or an assemblage of interrelated short art pieces that although seemingly detached from each other, in whole, express a complete thought or statement. My site remains  a “work in progress”.  photomontage.com

  • Shirin Kouladjie deconstructs information and visuals offered to her by her surroundings in her web creations, which become a materialization of her nostalgia for childhood and a rejection of the idealized precepts of perfection. In her art she draws upon the rich cultural heritage of 20th Century and the Mass media, working with themes of death, memory and childhood, although her formal training has been in painting, her works has since become more interactive. She uses photographs, film and sounds loops to make short downloadable web installations which she displays in her web sites. Shirin Kouladjie uses a debris of everyday life from old photographs, magazines, instruction manuals to wrapping paper and newspaper clippings found in places like flea market and library archives. She rearranges them, juxtaposes them with each other, reinterpreting and exploring the many facets of their meanings. She focuses on a fictional reconstitution of her personal memories using elements gathered from our collective memories.