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Born in Teheran in 1974, Howtan and his two brothers were taken to Rome
by their mother in 1979, when the Shah was overthrown. Since 1986 he
has alternated between living in the United States and Italy. Although
deeply interested in photography since he was 12 years old, he did not
consider becoming an artist until he met Professor Achille Bonito Oliva
in 2003. Dr. Oliva, professor of contemporary art at the La Sapienza
University in Rome, director of the 43rd Venice Bienniale and an
important art critic, saw Howtan’s photographs and urged him to exhibit
them. The artist’s first body of work, "Hell & Paradise," was
largely inspired by his life in Roman society. Its poignant images and
symbolic use of blood, water, flowers and feathers comment on
contemporary women: their joys, their suffering, and the sometimes
disastrous consequences of their stressful lifestyles. Noting the
bicultural background of the artist, Dr. Oliva feels that "Hell &
Paradise" refers to "two opposite and complementary worlds, a dualism
present in the spirit and personality of the artist himself." The
artist’s elegant photographic sets reconstruct situations where
emotions are recreated visually "to defuse the drama of inner suffering
and experience a feeling of pleasureand liberation." Read more...
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