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Motherland

ongoing photographic project

This photography project explores discrimination against women in Iran, focusing on the experiences of my mother, who grew up in a wealthy family. The discrimination within her family and her lack of access to her paternal inheritance serve as the main motivation for this project.

The aim of this project is to reveal the impact of discrimination on women and to highlight overlooked realities that shape their lives. It will also examine the relationship between these forms of discrimination and the concept of ecofeminism.

The project consists of a photo installation made from photographs of lands that legally belong to my mother but from which she has been deprived. Alongside the images, recordings of my mother’s voice and the carpets she has woven will be presented as symbols of her identity and memories.

This project not only reflects my mother’s personal experience but also points to the systemic discrimination faced by women in Iranian society. By combining art and lived reality, I hope to draw greater attention to these issues.

Galu gah

2023 - ongoing photographic project

This photobook captures my daily journey between two worlds—fire (Ateş) and sea (Derya). It reflects my crossings between Asia and Europe while living in Istanbul. Coming from Isfahan, a dry city where water is crucial, I know what it’s like to fight for something so vital. In my hometown, reaching water means traveling for kilometers, while Istanbul surrounds me with it. This city, so picturesque, acts as a bridge for me to Europe, much like those who cross the sea seeking a better life. Here, water becomes a transporter, not a destination. Every day, I step onto European soil, and it makes me reflect on political borders and the lost souls who drown in their quest for freedom. I embrace the fluidity of water as a metaphor for my own feelings of instability and displacement in Istanbul.

Khāk / Ab آب خاک

2022 - 2024

Coming from Isfahan, a land where water is a distant memory, and the desert always waits. Now, in Istanbul, I live surrounded by water, yet still feel
its absence. My project flows between these two wor lds between thi rst and abundance. Water, in allits forms, reflects the fragility of life, survival,
and the journey of those caught between dry lands and endless seas.

Melancholy

2022 - 2024

This series was photographed in wild natural landscapes—places where the scale and presence of nature dissolve one’s sense of orientation. In those moments, standing before the vastness and silence of the scene, a quiet melancholic feeling emerges. It is not sadness, but a deep awareness of one’s smallness within the grandeur of the natural world.

These images stand in contrast to the controlled and designed forms of urban nature. While gardens impose order and structure upon the landscape, the wilderness evokes a more mysterious and emotional encounter—where nature remains indifferent, immense, and impossible to fully grasp.

Dissection

2021

The contradiction of gardens The carefully designed gardens are very different from the wildness of the forest. This made me wonder: why do we shape nature with our own patterns when it already follows its own rules? What remains of its natural state when we bring it into cities? Are gardens a middle ground between wild nature and human creations, or is there a deep divide between the two, each trying to control the other? The orderly design of gardens reminds me of the balance of the past, while forests reflect a more untamed, mysterious spirit. Nature, after all, never rushes.

A prologue

2017 - 2020

This project brings together my day job in industrial and commercial photography with my art practice. These photographs capture studio objects, serving as a bridge between the two worlds I navigate. They also function as a healing project, addressing my need for artistic expression. I find beauty in mundane items—a light snoot here, a reflector there. Some of these images resemble photographic sketches. I aim to cultivate a sympathetic relationship with photography by cherishing every object that contributes to its magic. Any seemingly valueless item in the studio can become a worthy subject for a photograph.

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Abreast

2017

Yellows have not gone red in vain

2015

This series began during my night wanderings through the deserted, barren parts of various cities in Iran. Captured with my cellphone, it allowed me to experiment with the flash in unique ways. A professional camera wouldn’t have offered the same flexibility to manipulate light. By placing my fingers over the flash, I controlled the light, and the color tones in the photos reflect my own blood.

Marzie Rashidi

Marzieh Rashidi is an Iranian fine art photographer and visual artist based in Istanbul,Türkiye. Her interdisciplinary practice combines alternative photography, video art, and creative writing to explore themes of ecosystems, borders, displacement, and language. In recent years, Rashidi has focused on water as a physical, symbolic, and metaphorical subject, addressing environmental, social, and political dimensions.

Contact me at:

rashidimarzie@gmail.com