‘In Pain’ a series, exploring the subject of suffering. Pain is a universal human experience. Defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.”
Pain may be a symptom of an underlying disease or disorder, or a disorder in its own right. Although pain is an universal experience, it is also a complex one. It is often silent and unseen but present. While the physical sensations involved in pain may be constant throughout history, the ways in which humans express and treat pain are shaped by their respective cultures and societies.
The idea of the project was originally inspired by the concept of depression. Most people have felt sad or depressed at some time in their lives. Feeling depressed can be a normal reaction to loss, battles with self-esteem, life’s struggles, or an injury. But depression is just one of those emotional pains. Within the series protruding objects often depict the localised/specific pains that are experienced by the person. It is symbolic rather than specific in nature. People can experience many forms of crippling pain that cannot be visually seen or clearly understood and defined.
There are various forms of human suffering the ways in which we see that suffering. People may suffer from a variety of circumstances, such as harmful natural conditions (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and bush fires and other extreme weather conditions), harmful political conditions (dictatorship or anarchy, war or terrorist attacks, restrictive/legalistic governments) and the impact of displacement and immigration to family, support and culture. Harmful social conditions (inability to satisfy basic human needs, such as hunger and thirst), harmful emotional conditions (inability to satisfy one’s emotional needs for company, belonging and acceptance, the need for decent work, perspectives for one’s future and self-respect through the freedom of self-determination).
In this series I am exploring the emotional agony experienced when in pain through photography. The confronting scenes provide the audience with unsettling visions that often will unsettle and inspire thought through the rough and explicit images.
Whilst feeling unsettled it challenges you to explore pain and the many sides to that pain whether it’s ongoing, sudden or specific in nature. [Official website] [Model: Zeynab Ebrahimi]
Technical statement
The photos in this series were taken with a Canon 5D mark III , natural light and manipulate in Photoshop. These photos provide a illusion of pain that is not observed in everyday life but is a reflection of pain depicted within a staged, narrative. Given it is not situation that we could possibly experience in real life; it provides an opportunity for observers to interpret what is conveyed through the photography and their own personal experience and connection to pain.
About Ramak Bamzar
Ramak Bamzar is an Iranian- Australian artist exploring strong narratives using a blend of landscape photography, illustration and portraiture of women. Becoming the storyteller, themes are explored in a way that is mythical and strong in suggestion. Born in Tehran in 1980, she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts/Photography from Azad University in 2004. In 2010, she immigrated to Australia, where she now resides with her husband. From the outset, Ramak’s desire to specialise in photography has been driven by her interest in capturing peoples’ everyday lives, inspired by their personality, life and colour. Through the creative process relationships with people are explored and the narrative of a person’s emotions, history, their experiences and natural beauty is told. Ramak’s work depicts beauty in a more ethereal and pure form.
