ZAHRA SALEKI PHOTOGRAPHY

It all started in one great night in Cameron house, one of my favorite bars, when I had couple of drinks and went to the restroom to freshen up. While waiting in line, one small drawing with a cute statement grabbed my attention: “We are all pretty girls.” When it was my turn and I went inside the stall, I realized I was surrounded by many more drawings and writings, and I almost felt like I could hear all of these girls’ voices. My feeling of that moment was like the feeling of the person who sees the Red colour for the first time. Imagine if for your whole life you live in a room full of colours and you never see them until one night when you are a bit tipsy and you feel Oh My God, what are these colours? Believe it or not at that moment I felt I found Magic in the washroom. I felt I discovered the land that it was  always and already there and I never see it before. The invisible underground feminine culture, that it meant to be destroyed.

“Girl Talk” is a documentary-based photo project, which has been collected from mostly girls’ public washrooms and some unisex washrooms in over 500 bars in Toronto, New York and Montreal. This project highlights a small part of the subterranean urban culture, which is normally not intended to be permanent or publicly viewed. These girls write or draw how they really feel, revealing an honest footprint of themselves. No one really knows who drew them, and the artifacts  could be erased anytime!This project started two years ago and I never felt so inlove with any project before. I feel very strong about Girl Talk because I feel this crazy wild imagination need to be seens by everyone.Sometimes when I am editing these photos and put them together I try to imagine the face of these people, I never can but the only thing that I always can feel is their true and raw feeling.

Through my photographs I isolate each drawing and graffiti from its original environment, making each one its own individual art piece. Through these photographs I capture the essence of the soul and the unmasked  version of these people. For me these graffitis and statements speak of the desire of people who need to be heard and remembered in their true way. I think it’s important to preserve these graffitis , to assemble  and see them as a collection, because it’s part of our society, and we can have a deeper look into them. Even if a lot of these statements are sarcastic and sometimes appear as satire, we have to wonder why these girls are not as expressive in society when other people are watching.

I also find these drawing very inspiring.  I feel many of us are wild, crazy artists inside, but scared to show others because we worry it is too silly or too childish. The truth is, many of these drawings reveal the wild soul we have otherwise learned to tame in a very conservative way.  What if we learned to not be so self-conscious? What kind of society would we would live in then?

In my installation I print these graffitis in a very large formant with special transparent paper and I will make a cool light box tunnel so people can walk through it.

I promise if you come you will also be agree that you can find treasure in washroom.

My dream is one day I can make this a book! So when the day come help me my dream comes true.