Ala Ebtekar

(Hardback)

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The first comprehensive monograph of Ala Ebtekar, spanning more than twenty years of the artist's work and practice

This comprehensive monograph of San Francisco Bay Area-based artist offers a unique insight into the vast array of his influences and sources and includes contributions by Yasiin Bey, Venetia Porter, Sussan Babaie, Deena Chalabi, Hushang Ebtehaj and Shiva Balaghi.

Ala Ebtekar (1978) is a contemporary visual artist whose work frequently orchestrates various orbits and cadences of time, bringing forth sculptural and photographic possibilities of the universe, and time, gazing back at us. This extensive research and making process borrows and physically reworks thousand year old image/object-making traditions up to the latest technological advances in production.

His ongoing investigations create liminal experiences extending beyond human timelines, exploring the phenomenology of light. Considering light itself as both a concept and medium, and its healing possibilities, Ebtekar uses UV-light emitted from the sun and night exposures produced by moonlight and starlight in his practice. His photographic works, which take an entire night to expose, continue his durational projects viewed as in collaboration with celestial bodies.

Ebtekar equally over decades has employed the tactile traditions and properties of bookmaking, page and illumination in bound manuscripts, and classical training in Iranian coffeehouse painting. His alchemy of combining these legacies weave into his commitment and own work in tandem with enduring centuries of reclaimed text & image archives, poetry, and translation.

Author Bio

Yasiin Bey formerly known as Mos Def is an American rapper.

Venetia Porter, art historian, was Senior Curator for Islamic and Contemporary Middle East art at the British Museum (1989-2022) where she is now Honorary Research Fellow.

Deena Chalabi is a writer and curator whose work explores relationships between individual expression, critical thought, and public imagination.

Hushang Ebtehaj was an Iranian poet of the 20th century.

Shiva Balaghi is a cultural historian specializing in the visual culture of the Middle East and its diasporas.