Mirrors, Not Windows: Photography by Asher Imtiaz humanizes the divisive issue of immigration through a poignant collection of portraits that capture the complex and emotional liminal spaces occupied by asylum seekers, migrant workers, refugees, and other immigrants living in the United States. Embedded with symbolism and personal meaning, Imtiaz’s thoughtfully crafted compositions are quiet contemplations that navigate the delicate balance between past and present, familiarity and estrangement, displacement, and belonging.
Imtiaz’s dramatic shadows and strong vertical lines find inspiration in the stark chiaroscuro and existential post-war concerns of German Expressionist cinema and unsettling aesthetic of film noir. Imtiaz’s oeuvre, however, is not without hope. Like the work of historic documentary photographers Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange, whose iconic images captured the raw essence of America and its people, Imtiaz views his photographs, not as windows into others’ lives, but as mirrors that reflect back our common humanity.
Born and raised in Pakistan, Imtiaz’s early bodies of work document the religious minority groups of his home country. A recent immigrant himself, Imtiaz moved to the United States in 2012 for graduate studies, providing him with an empathetic understanding of the uncertainty that comes with living abroad. This is Imtiaz’s first museum solo show.
