Paarsa Hajari

Image © Paarsa Hajari

Artist Statement

From the outside I'm photographing pretty flowers, rays of light, seemingly everyday spaces. While I have reasons for the thematics I hang around, there's a lot that reaches into my core, and I'm learning to acknowledge that.

When I look at a photo I can feel whether or not the sun pressed into my skin, or if the wind was blowing through my overwashed fleece. I can remember how I was feeling that day. I can recognize the person I was when I took it; someone different than today. I can remember if I was alone or with someone, walking towards or away from them. I can remember the feeling I had with that person, whether or not they're in my life anymore.

This visual reminder is a gift. Any vivid reminder of happiness, grievance, apathy and all of the in-between is a gift regardless of how it makes us feel. Sometimes a photo is too overwhelming for me to look at and I have to put it away. I know in time I'll be able to look at it again. My work is a diary, an accurate cliche. While I'm a person that keeps themselves shut tight on many occasions, I'm learning to acknowledge that my work bares my heart. It's a collection of observations, a scattering of notes, and a synthesis of my life as it moves.

Paarsa Hajari | Lake Oswego, OR