...in the Zenith series as sites/sights in which stark binaries crumble; photography meets painting, science converges with art, and two seemingly opposing world-views (“Western” science and “Eastern” tradition) synthesize.
These points of convergence become more prominent given Ebtekar’s application of the almost alchemical cyanotype technique, in which the surface is treated with potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate, where the red iron changes into blue by being exposed to the Sun; from the color of the earth to the color of the sky.
Ebtekar then adorns this photo of the celestial clear sky, the color of which in the Jungian psychology stands for truth, with clouds scattered all over, as if to paint the “Real” with his own reality. Again, Suhrawardi’s mark cannot be ignored, for the philosopher too combines the astronomical with allegorical to illustrate the journey to/through light, which Ebtekar deploys as both medium and technique; a technique that was developed by the English astronomer Sir John Herschel.
Excerpt from an essay from the Nowheresville \ ‘nä-koja,-abäd \ exhibition catalogue
Zenith (IV) // Acrylic over cyanotype exposed by sunlight on canvas Quadriptych, 72” x 145” in. (72” x 36 1/4” each panel) / 2015
Zenith (nightfall) // Acrylic over cyanotype exposed by moonlight on canvas 72” x 36” in. / 2023
Zenith (VI) // Acrylic over cyanotype exposed by sunlight on canvas Quadriptych, 64” x 124” in. (64” x 31” each panel) / 2016
