The Spirituality was the first joint professional project of Mitra and Mohsen. They got acquainted with environmental art through Dr. Ahmad Nadalian and started working at the same time as they were studying at the university. It was the topic that had occupied their minds for a long time. The topic was light and its connection with spirituality. All their works of art at that time unconsciously had a sign of this subject. The light has two aspects for us; the first one is the highest level of energy and it is as if all the universe benefits from its light. The second one is based on compulsion. This artwork was made by them and two other artists.
In Iranian culture, light and dark are concepts with a background as long as history, one that we know and are accustomed to. They have been the representations of “good and evil” or “right and wrong”. On the other hand, they have symbolized “life and death” or, for that matter, “body and soul” in Iranian culture.
Reference to these concepts in our times and with today`s means has been the subject of the joint effort by Mohsen Gholami and Mitra Arbab Saljooghi. The process of registering these works leads us to a whole new territory.
In our ancient time-honored culture and tradition, light and darkness are relative, not absolute, concepts. Any light in our world is dimmed before the real light, in the same way as darkness can be thought of as light without much brightness.
Despite their works having generally been photographed at night and in time-lapse, at times, they are as light as day. The day, however, is different from what we know and are familiar with. Now, how can one have the same vision at night as in daylight?
This is a question of time. Can night be lit like the day?
Maybe it can.
Ahmad Nadalian
Winter 1390