Mid Night Sun 2020

Il Sole di Mezzanotte / The Midnight Sun

I always loved the night so much, there are many reasons but one of the reasons is the shadows, the images become surreal, and we can imagine different things.

For me shadows were always very interesting and I also tried to paint them several times. This is a recent work where I tried to paint the shadows.

I am Saeedeh Sarmadi, a second-year painting student and I am Iranian. We are all in a difficult period, in this particular time like everyone I had a different experience of life, for some people like me it was even harder because not only was I in quarantine but I was also very far from my family and friends.

But it was also a very interesting and powerful experience. In my absolute solitude I began to see things differently.

When I had the idea for these photos we were in difficult times, everyone at home and many of us were alone, the window of my room was the only real connection I had with the world, from this window I could watch people passing by, children playing, people keeping their distance from one another, and the new style of life.

To get through these days I always tried to keep myself busy. During the day the room was bright and the light was always on.

But one afternoon when I was really down with all the lights off, I saw something else, my window was giving me something I hadn't seen until that moment, every afternoon the shadows, the sunlight and the images of the world would enter my room.

My window painted my walls with different shapes. Every afternoon when I turned off the light, my room became my dark room with all the images that were different every time.

And I began to photograph.

All the photos were taken with an iPhone 11 in raw format and edited with Photoshop.