Iran through the eyes of Homa

Swiss-born Georg Gerster is a pioneer in aerial photography.
For more than 50 years he has taken breathtaking pictures of mountains and deserts, coasts and lakes, and agrarian and industrial landscapes all over the world.He took his first aerial photographs in the Sudan in 1963 and since then has taken photographs over 111 countries across the seven continents, photographing terrains ranging from the Amazon to Antarctica. He has captured some of the world’s most spectacular archaeological sites and ancient monuments – from the temples in Egypt and the Acropolis in Athens to the Great Wall of China.

In 1858 the French photographer Nadar took the first aerial photographs using a hot air balloon. He photographed Paris from above. A hundred years later Georg Gerster stepped into a small aircraft to make his first aerial images. Both of them, Nadar and Gerster, were overwhelmed by the experience: how the newly won perspective reveals what we all too often ignore on the ground – the beauty, diversity and uniqueness of our planet.

Flying over Iran marked the apogee of Gerster’s world tour saga. Except for exciting landscapes he focuses from the beginning of his activity on Iran’s innumerable archaeological sites of which Unesco has designated 19 sites a World Heritage. Linking aerial photography and archaeology yields spectacular results – sites that are hardly visible or readable to a groundling, from above make a dramatic appearance among moving sand dunes.

In the case of Iran, a bird’s eye view is not incongruous for more than one reason. Apart from its scientific benefits it may also claim a cultural significance. The mythology of ancient Persia exhibits a fondness for auspicious birds as harbingers of Peace, Joy and Happiness. The Homa, a legendary bird of paradise, is one of them, flying high, only rarely alighting. “Though I had to land from time to time, in hour-long flights when under me the earth blissfully metamorphosed into a work of art I believed to feel Homa’s presence”.

Georg Gerster’s images demonstrate his technical ability, his instinct of composition and his faith in serendipity, which means chancing upon things without looking for them. His images elevated aerial photography from being a mere means of documentation to a photographic art form in its own right. The combination of abstract pa>erns in the landscapes and their wealth of different colors, seen from above, aims to inspire respect for the beauty of Iran and our planet. Gerster’s images trigger the need of contemplation; they are, in the words of the artist, „jumpingoff points for flights of thought“.

Georg Gerster shows for the first time the results of his Iranian tour in their entirety. He feels especially privileged to be able to do so in the Niavaran Cultural Center of Tehran.

He offers this exhibition to the country. It is his return gift.

Dossier de Presse Georg Gester – Sept 2016 Farhansara ye Niavaran – Teheran