Tejan Rahim’s latest series carries the weight of the world

A Church Getting Became Into Luxurious Housing. © Tejan Rahim.

“This can be a venture about all the issues that make me depressed and concerned – it’s about racism and id, the surroundings and local weather alternate, faith and circle of relatives, historical past and tradition”

For Tejan Rahim, taking {a photograph} isn’t just an inventive choice, it’s also a method through which he can maintain a picture, procedure its contents, and be in contact the ideas and feelings connected to it. Rahim has aphantasia – often referred to as ‘thoughts blindness’ – a visible situation through which individuals are not able to visualize imagery. “Photography purposes as some way for me to stay visible references and recollections outdoor of my head,” he says. “Now and then, it purposes as a life-vest, serving to me to stay my head above water.”

Rahim likens his apply to “journalling” and says that his images can also be learn as manifestations of his present temper and psychological well being. Just lately, his paintings has taken a decidedly darker flip, reflecting the indisputable fact that Rahim has been coping with a number of assets of nervousness. Those can also be discovered as topics inside of his latest venture In The Tooth of The Maximum Terrifying Odds.

He explains: “This can be a venture about all the issues that make me depressed and concerned – it’s about racism and id, the surroundings and local weather alternate, faith and circle of relatives, historical past and tradition, and the entirety else I in finding myself excited about, and the sophisticated ways in which all of it intersects.” 

Spanning the years 2017 to 2020, the series has been some time in the making, and but handiest correctly took form right through 2022. Digging thru his archive, Rahim started to pair pictures in combination that he felt had synergy, and slowly narratives started to emerge. “It wasn’t a venture that was once conceptualised previous to taking the footage, however moderately was once pulled in combination after the truth. It type of impressed itself,” he explains. Curating every symbol sparsely, he quickly realised that his fears and worries had consciously or subconsciously labored their manner into his pictures over the years, appearing up in each glaring and not going puts.

In a single {photograph}, titled Mammy, we will simply make out a blurry assortment of previous collectible figurines, the kind of which has lengthy since been denounced as racist and derogatory. Originating in the Jim Crow generation as some way of reinforcing destructive Black stereotypes, those collectible figurines can nonetheless now and again be discovered on the market. “I used to be in a present store in the Caribbean and even though the store was once owned and operated via Black folks, maximum of the consumers have been white so there was once this bizarre stress,” Rahim says. “I didn’t pass out of my solution to in finding that, it simply took place, and stuff like that occurs all the time in case your eyes are open to it.”

In some other {photograph}, titled Possession Is Robbery, the connection to race is most likely much less glaring, but guided via the creator’s point of view, we will start to forge a hyperlink. We realize a ghostly hand wrapped round a tree and, not able to peer the frame it is connected to, we sense a sense of possessiveness, of claiming the tree. Rahim explains that this symbol speaks to notions of colonialism and the concept that land possession is robbery. “I used to be additionally excited about how 90 p.c of sub-Saharan cultural artefacts exist outdoor of Africa and the function that museums and different establishments play in keeping up violent energy constructions,” he explains.

Throughout the leisure of the series, topics akin to those, in addition to a large number of others, stand up. Many of the pictures lift a way of foreboding. Now and then, their vacancy can really feel bleak, and emblems akin to the American flag, barbed twine, CCTV, padlocked gates, and vegetation of bereavement trace at the topics and problems these days affecting Rahim. As you progress thru the images, the stress builds and the heaviness of the subject material turns into obvious. The overall {photograph}, on the other hand, which displays the decrease part of a determine sat on a chair, marks a departure from the despair. 

Rahim says this symbol symbolises hope and appreciation. “This was once my try at finishing what’s regularly an excessively miserable venture on a extra uplifting word. It’s a reminder to practise gratitude and be pleased about the items and the those who fortify me on a regular basis – even in all the small ways in which I don’t realize or disregard about. Like a chair supporting me as I take a seat at my table and sort this or the buddies that lend a hand me in the innumerable ways in which they do.”

tejanrahim.com.