Shenasnameh

Six years ago, I was waiting in a reception room, holding the birth certificates of my mother and me. We looked similar in our ID photographs. That same day my fingerprint was fixed next to my image, and my mother’s fingerprint next to her image. Despite the outward similarity of the images the fingerprints were different; the scar I had on my finger became part of my identity next to my photograph. I decided this meant something, that our identities were entwined with these official identities, with these prints and these papers. In the following three years, I collected similar images and fingerprints from different women in Iran. Each was different from the other, and had a story to tell." - Amak Mahmoodian

“I have seen many books in my life , Shenasnameh is one of the special ones. Shenasnameh has sense. The intimate story of the book, simply and strongly talks about the personal, identical experiences. Shenasnameh makes me to feel more.” - Yumi Goto Independent Curator, Japan

“Amak used simple existing visuals in another context to tell a complicated and very strong story. I am so glad that we hear her voice, especially in these days. She uses it in a very effective way. The tactility of the used materials is very effective. It is a very moving story.” - Corinne Noordenbos Former Head of photography department of the Royal Academy of Art (KABK)

About Amak Mahmoodian
Amak Mahmoodian is an Iranian artist and curator living and working in the UK. She graduated in Photography and Documentary Photography (MA) from the Art University of Tehran. In 2015, she finished her PhD on Double Identity, images of women in Iran.
Using a structure that evokes the classic Middle Eastern collections of oriental stories, her research explores the subtleties of specific codes of conduct that influence a person’s behaviour, relationships, sense of self and identity, represented through different media such as photography, video and text.