Sanaz Mazinani Frames of the Visible

In Frames of the Visible, Sanaz Mazinani examines the disassociation that occurs between an event and its photographic record. Using images of war mined from online media outlets, she constructs digital photographic collages that collapse the meaning of the original image, creating, in the process new representations of conflict.
 
Drawing from issues such as censorship or the body as a site of action or violence, Mazinani explores the relationship between perception and representation. For instance, her appropriated images of a female suicide bomber, when juxtaposed with media darling Paris Hilton, creates a new meaning that can affect our understanding of an image and how it is used to illustrate and construct history. The geometric patterns created by sequentially coupling, repeating, mirroring, and multiplying her source material reference Islamic ornamentation and bring together traditional Eastern and contemporary Western image-production techniques. These works examine the differing complexities from which individuals perceive the same subject.
 
Mazinani seeks to recognize how political realities are represented in photography. She envisions the perspectival frames of warfare while acknowledging the complicated nature of our modern existence in a globalized world.