‘UNMUTED,' debut book from award-winning fine art photographer Nedda Afsari, available now
NEW LIMITED-EDITION HARDCOVER PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK EXPLORING THEMES OF POWER AND DESIRE
THROUGH THE LENS OF GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHER
NEDDA AFSARI
FEATURING IMAGES OF ST. VINCENT, CHELSEA WOLFE, JENNIE VEE (EAGLES OF DEATH METAL),
YEHA LEUNG (DESIGNER BEHIND CREEPYYEHA), AND NATASHA LILLIPORE, AMONG OTHERS
AVAILABLE NOW
Cover art (credit: Nicholas Parks)
“The photographs of…Nedda Afsari…look like stills from some lost feminist arthouse horror film…there’s something…cold-blooded…foreboding, brutal and feral, but also calculatingly editorial. Like if a fashion designer directed a snuff film. Occasionally dreamy and nearly always full of dread, Afsari’s violent, erotic and provocative photos aren’t quite fetish and aren’t quite fashion, but…something that lives excitingly on the edge of both boundaries.”
- DAZED magazine
“Danger…is at the root of Nedda Afsari’s work…Her photographic subjects often occupy both the unreal and the real, risqué fantasies and bedroom truths alike. Afsari’s photos are also imbued with a vulnerability that magnifies a sense of urgency…”
- Playboy
“The work of…Nedda Afsari is sublimely erotic and eerily delicate…[she] creates a vintage world of nightmare pin-ups, of dangerous anticipation, and ethereal beauty.”
- SSENSE
“…the book highlights Afsari’s ability to photograph her subjects at their most vulnerable, even when hiding behind leather and chains.”
- VICE’s i-D magazine
Available now, the debut photography book from award-winning Los Angeles-based, Iranian-raised fine art photographer and creative director Nedda Afsari, entitled UNMUTED, encompassing her body of work from 2014-2019 that explores themes of self-awareness, identity, sexuality, and power dynamics.
The just released (February 2020), self-published, limited-edition, 128-page hardcover book shines an introspective light on the divine feminine power while simultaneously balancing the masculine and feminine. In UNMUTED, you’ll find photographs mainly in analog format─shot on a Canon F1 (35mm single-lens reflex camera) and Contax G1 (fully electronic and automatic 35mm film camera)─of friends and artists that inspire Nedda; such as female musicians Annie Clark, known professionally as St. Vincent, singer, songwriter, and fashion goth staple Chelsea Wolfe, and songwriter, bassist, and guitarist Jennie Vee (solo artist and bassist of Eagles of Death Metal). The book also features photos of Yeha Leung (lingerie designer behind Creepyyeha and a favorite of FKA twigs), and Mexican-American artist Natasha Lillipore, among many others.
For years, Nedda’s output of highly stylized erotic photography, executed masterfully, with an affectation towards romanticized darkness has been known through her alias, mutedfawn. Over the years, mutedfawn has gained visibility within and outside the underground music and art scenes where she first found an audience. In 2019, St. Vincent’s album MASSEDUCTION, for which Nedda produced all of the photography, won a GRAMMY for Best Recording Package (presented for the visual look of an album). The publication of UNMUTED marks the dissolution of her alias, as well as Nedda’s emergence as the subject, arbiter, and power within her own work.
In describing her style to VICE’s i-D magazine, Nedda shares, “I channel my subconscious visions, fears, and desires into my work. I like to capture and examine dichotomies — the lines between fantasy and reality, masculine and feminine, light and dark, and bring a story to life. Sometimes an image is equally dreamy and horrific, refined but chaotic, imposing yet ethereal.” In an interview with Evelyn Wang of UK’s DAZED magazine, who says “I think of your photography as ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night directed by David Lynch and John Willie's demon child,’” Nedda responds, “That’s a pretty accurate description actually! I’d also add Guy Bourdin’s fashion films to that mix. So many different things inspire me. Classic horror films, fashion photography, music, and my lucid dreams are all areas I pull inspiration from at the moment.”
UNMUTED is available now to purchase on Nedda’s official website.
In the book’s foreword, journalist Arjun Ray shares:
“For many people, the strict separation between waking and dreaming forms a necessary barrier between what we can manage and that which would seep into our pores to eventually obliterate us. And then there are others who choose to live in both worlds and blur the lines between them, putting themselves at risk of great personal damage in order to retrieve fragments of truth, in an effort to render themselves whole. Nedda Afsari is an artist who has dedicated herself to mining the fantastical, heartbreaking truths of her subconscious. She has committed herself to a life-long journey of intentionally confronting and sometimes collaborating with her demons, balancing darkness with light, and vulnerability with power. The artifacts of this process are her artwork.
Each section in this book represents a phase of self-discovery for Nedda. She renders her models and through them, herself, in dream-like scenes, often employing the visual language of BDSM. The sexuality in her photographs while undeniably present, may easily be over-interpreted. More often than not, the photographs are in fact more concerned with the dynamics of power, pain and the realization of divinity. Her photography is beautifully realized, mainly in analog format, with an auteur’s eye for costume, lighting, and frame. She draws influence from pre-modern erotic photography, high fashion, underground music, the occult, classic cinema, and the fantastical worlds of dreams and nightmares.
Nedda’s photographic work is done in active collaboration with her models. Through the photography, the models are able to embody deified versions of themselves that juxtapose vulnerability and power, light and dark. This process is one of transcendence and self-realization for the models, and their journey, whether dealing with traumas, repressions, or deeply closeted interests, is innately tied to Nedda’s own.
From section to section within this book, one can witness inversions of power dynamics, the entrance and magnification of darkness, and the loss and return of balance. As the sections progress there is an increasingly cinematic tone to the work, immersing the viewer deeper into the magickal worlds Nedda has created through her exacting mise-en-scène. How exactly each frame and each section are to be interpreted is completely up to the viewer. Although Nedda has a very specific internal process that has driven her to create this work, she has no interest in dictating interpretation.”
In celebration of the book’s release, Nedda is partnering with Danny Fuentes (owner of the Los Angeles-based art gallery, fashion line, and events promoter Lethal Amounts) to host a release party on Saturday, March 7 from 7:00 pm-10:00 pm at The Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. The release party will feature a photo exhibit, showcasing 28 pieces from UNMUTED, and copies of the book will be available to purchase. Plus, the RSVP-required event is set to feature a special performance by Louisianna Purchase and DJ sets by Andrew Clinco (Drab Majesty/VR Sex), TR/ST, VOWWS, and Brian T. Click here to watch the video teaser for the release party.
About Nedda Afsari:
Born in San Francisco, Nedda Afsari is a Los Angeles-based, Iranian-raised self-taught fine art photographer and creative director whose imagery explores themes of power, control, liberation, and self-awareness, all while celebrating and traversing the diverse realms of the divine feminine and human sexuality. Afsari often combines her love of music and film to create intense and fascinating dreamscapes for her subjects to explore. For years, Nedda’s output of highly stylized erotic photography, executed masterfully, with an affectation towards romanticized darkness has been known through her alias, mutedfawn. Over the years, mutedfawn has gained visibility within and outside the underground music and art scenes where she first found an audience.
Nedda’s photography has featured such commanding presences, such as GRAMMY-winning artist St. Vincent, Chelsea Wolfe, Jennie Vee (Eagles of Death Metal), musician, designer and illustrator Foie Gras, artist, model, and dominatrix Maidenfed, Yeha Leung (lingerie designer behind Creepyyeha), and Mexican-American artist Natasha Lillipore, among many others. Other musician’s Nedda has worked with include: Avalon Lurks, Black Mare, Blood Red Shoes, Boy Harsher, Caroline Polachek, Ceremony, Drab Majesty, Hide, King Dude, Panther Modern, Selofan, Tamaryn, TR/ST, The Boxer Rebellion, VOWWS, and she works closely with the Los Angeles-based record label Dais. Click here to see a sample of Nedda’s music photography.
In July 2018, under her mutedfawn alias, Nedda premiered her first solo photo exhibition, entitled The Viewing: The Muses of Nedda Afsari, at Lethal Amounts in downtown Los Angeles. In 2019, St. Vincent’s album MASSEDUCTION, for which Nedda produced all of the photography, won a GRAMMY for Best Recording Package.
Her photos have been seen in The New Yorker and online on NPR and Rolling Stone; plus her work has been featured by Playboy, VICE’s i-D magazine, DAZED magazine, SSENSE, SOVO// Magazine, and Nakid, among others.
The cinematic quality of her photographs turned out to be a premonition of her artistic evolution, as Nedda teamed up with Michael E Linn and his creative partner Michael R. Zumaya (aka The Widow Brothers) to form the video production and visual collective Muted Widows. In April 2019, the three debuted their first project for the group Boy Harsher, continuing a stream of surreal/art house themed music videos for artists like Drab Majesty and Ceremony.
For more info on Nedda Afsari, visit mutedawn.com and follow @mutedfawn on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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