By Katharina Prugger
Iranian-born and Melbourne-based artist Hoda Afshar seeks to capture hidden truths, seamlessly blending the political and poetic to create works that question the viewer’s reality.
Fifteen years ago, Hoda Afshar began working as a photojournalist in Iran, her country of birth, and quickly garnered critical and professional acclaim. In 2006 she was selected by World Press Photo as one of the top ten young documentary photographers in Iran and invited to attend their Educational Training Program. Rather than employ the common strategy of documentary photographers to strive for objectiveness and look in from the outside, Afshar early on began using an inventive approach and degree of intervention to see beyond the surface and reveal hidden truths. Her works from this period include