March and April are the official months of photography this year, a biennial tradition dedicated to the celebration of photography. Galleries, museums and schools across Denver, Denver Art Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art Denver included, are featuring countless photographers in a collaboration with over 100 public events.
The Vicky Myhren Gallery right here on campus is hosting two exhibits, collectively titled Photography Focus, until April 26. Free to the public, the exhibits showcase the work of two photojournalists: David Burnett’s Aftermath series and Abbas Hajimohammadi Saniabad’s Schizophrenia Series: Fragile Minds. Both photographers will be speaking on April 9 from 5-7 p.m. in the Shwayder Art building.
Burnett is an award-winning photojournalist whose photo essays have captured some of the most memorable moments in history. His series, Aftermath, can be found in the back right room of the gallery. It outlines the tragic destruction hurricanes Katrina and Rita created after hitting the Gulf Coast in 2005.
His images encompass several stories as he documents the lives of those who were left homeless, as well as capturing the trauma inflicted on New Orleans and Louisiana. Burnett’s other photographs—the revolution in Iran (1979), famine in Ethiopia (1984) and the U.S. military intervention in Haiti (1994)—are also on display at the exhibit. Burnett’s photographs capture striking moments that thrust the viewer into the very heart of whatever event he is documenting.
Saniabad is a self-taught, freelance photographer whose documentary work has been featured in international publications, including Newsweek and Time magazine’s Lightbox.
Immediately upon entering Photography Focus, visitors are greeted by Saniabad’s on going series, which documents the lives of Afghan refugees. The photographs capture Shiite refugees secretly participating in illegal ceremonies and Afghan trash collectors leaning up against heaps of garbage, providing snippets into the daily lives of these people. Saniabad’s other series, Schizophrenia Series: Fragile Minds, occupies the back left room of the gallery.
On his personal website regarding the series, Saniabad says, “Tehran hospital for patients struggling with Schizophrenia is a place where hundreds of men and women lead a life of duality. These patients do not know what is happening outside the hospital and their life is limited to wards and walls of it. They reconcile their regulated, daily routines with their alternate realities, and with their distant lives outside of the ward’s walls.”
His photographs have layers, usually with a subject in the forefront and another person in the background as a representation of the split personalities that plague the patients.
Attendees can navigate the exhibit as if walking down memory lane. Photography Focus provides a glimpse of history and the lives of others through a more personal lense and Burnett and Saniabad give their first-hand experiences of such events.
