Hall Two
From the treasure collection of the Museum ... Archive ... Nasser Bakhshi
The Nasser Bakhshi Archive Museum contains over three thousand files, and samples of these files and documents. These are currently on display in ongoing projects. The collection includes such objects as photographs of children who grew up poor and uneducated, papers and documents such as attendance records of workers, images recorded during national education projects and documents for registering uneducated people who could work in industries, workshops and factories, such as leatherworking and carpet weaving. From a documentary portrait perspective, registering and documenting the confused looks and uncertain eyes of these children is a naked and straightforward demonstration of their psychological state. It is a disturbing demonstration of uncertainty and mistrust in the future; studying through the available evidence and tracking of information over time, we can see that most of these children have remained labor workers, even in their adulthood. Their names are sometimes seen in the attendance records of workers who left their fingerprints in these books every day. The abandonment and erosion of many of these files and records alongside the neglect and invisibility of this class and these people is another important reality; the reality of being nameless and lost in history! On the other hand, perhaps the accelerating pace of modernization from the turn of the twentieth century to the present has been more overwhelming than their ability to keep up. These documents are one of Nasser Bakhshi’s sources of inspiration in shaping his projects, and undoubtedly, with various references, it will serve as a functional research and visual tool for artists, researchers, and lovers of history and culture.