Mirza Kahriman

Most of the photographers who found their way to rûm magazine provide a detailed online-presence to learn more about their work. We’re glad to have Mirza Kahriman among our friends; otherwise it would have been hard to find him – as he completely refuses to join this custom. In his opinion online-presence is not obligatory. He tries to provide the appropriate platform that each of his pictures deserves – whether it is his photo album, a hard disc or a gallery. You get a sense of how intimately Mirza treasures his work when knowing that he has been taking pictures for quite a long time without anyone knowing. Sometimes a film is ready for development years after it has been completed. To him it is a kind of Pandora’s Box whereas he is the one to decide when to open it.

Photography is the means he best can express himself and explain the world in his terms. Photography has to create a personal value and so he is taking pictures irregularly, following his needs. For him, it is inevitable that some photographic works take several years to be completed.

He has plenty of films waiting to be finished some day. Only a few months ago he had photographs developed that were made when he was thirteen years old. It wasn’t him to push the release button but his mum – they nonetheless can be regarded his own as his mother gave him the film and hence transferring the rights to him. He found out the pictures on the film were presenting three very decisive moments in his life that are now, after he had them developed, edited and prepared, finished – safely on his computer and in his photo album where they belong, according to him. There they can keep their personal value without the risk of being taken.

At the beginning of our interview we thought we found a clever way to persuade Mirza to show many more of his photographs. Despite our curiosity we more and more felt graceless for asking for more than one picture. We somehow learned to love pictures we never saw and never will.