![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/rsz_noroozi_21.jpg\" "\\"rsz_noroozi_21\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nOn a morning that suggested the beginning of spring, after a long Canadian winter, I entered the Nikola Rukaj Gallery knowing that I would not be leaving with the same pep in my step as I did when I arrived. As expected, having read about Noroozi\u2019s photographs before visiting the show, it is impossible not to be moved by his subjects and their lives. Each image has a strong, captivating expression.\u00a0 The four series that lined the walls were powerful in ways that I have never experienced through photography before. Exploring the effects of war, the traditions of mourning, and the heart wrenching and monstrous aftermath of young Iranian woman\u2019s divorce, Noroozi does not portray the world through rose colored glasses. Instead, he opens the eyes of his viewers to the pain and injustices of those living across the globe.<\/p>\n
Upon entry, the first two series were War is Not Over<\/em> which presented men, some proud, others solemn, after losing their limbs and, what I initially thought was a sea of red smoke, Hydrotherapy<\/em>, where veterans were communally undergoing rehabilitation. The full-frontal portraits of wounded soldiers attest both the lonesome and the collective pain felt after the war.<\/p>\n Two series dealt with the subject of mourning in two different perspectives. Mournful Women<\/em> set in front of colorful printed backdrops while Mourners<\/em> features men grieving by clothing themselves in mud and ashes. Though they differ in their approach to mourning, both are penetratingly powerful. Though the women are posed, in what looks like an interior space, we still get the feeling that we are involved in an intimate and impromptu interaction that makes us empathize with them. Their clothing, and gaze demonstrate their personalities. On the other hand, the men are outdoors and are captured candidly surrounded by flames, producing a visceral intensity. The silent, static portraits of women are starkly contrasted by the dynamic and active scenes of the men.<\/p>\n<\/a>Ebrahim Noroozi, War Is Not Over IV-Hassan, <\/em>2013. Pigment print, 20 x 30 inches<\/p>\n<\/a>Ebrahim Noroozi, Mourners I and II, <\/em>2013. Pigment print, 16 x 20 inches each<\/p>\n<\/a>Ebrahim Noroozi, Mournful Women XI, <\/em>2013. Pigment print, 20 x 30 inches<\/p>\n<\/a>Ebrahim Noroozi, Victims of Forced Love VIII-Rana Looks In The Mirror, <\/em>2013. Pigment print, 16 x 20 inches<\/p>\n