Biography:

Hadi Salehi is a master of the art of analog photography. Salehi’s images capture diverse portraits that are powerful and soft, leaving a haunting quality that lingers in the psyche. Salehi seeks to create a collective awareness as a cultural messenger through his images, revealing quiet truths through his process intensive works. With a career that spans more than 40 years, Salehi has closely documented cultural innovators such as Keith Haring, as well as developed an expansive body of analog, digital, film, and mixed media works. Hadi Salehi is a graduate of Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, and currently resides in Los Angeles.  Hadi Salehi’s photography is in LACMA’s permanent collection.

Statement of Series – Layers

Tapping into a deeper level of consciousness, Hadi Salehi’s analogue photography treats image making as a poetic practice. Hadi Salehi creates in layers. Using a myriad of antique cameras, Hadi’s work begins with an analog image of his subjects, followed by the manipulation of those images. Through this layering of positives and negatives, text and imagery, Hadi creates imagery that is unique and soulful, and as modern as it is vintage. Hadi connects to souls, through his work he invites others to discover, honor, and cherish the layered spiritual presence of this existence.