Ashkan Sahihi, Beautiful Boys Berlin, 2016
In 1987 Teheran-born, Ashkan Sahihi, moved to New York to explore the city which at the time was the epicentre of pop culture and subculture. There he found a thriving gay community that despite being incredibly creative was also enduring the trauma of a devastating AIDS epidemic. The artist cites the rampant disease as “diminishing the creative community by what seemed like half of its most brilliant talents and ravaging its creative power”.
New York has eventually overcome the sorrow yet Ashkan Sahihi only came to see the same creativity in the LGBTI community upon relocating to Berlin. “When I arrived in Berlin in 2013, I would see young men who looked excruciatingly familiar,” he says. “It took me several more months to recognize in these young people the newest generation of gay men shaping their identities in the current epicenter of self-actualization.”
“Beautiful Berlin Boys” is the photo series that was born out of the artist’s realisation. And it explores Sahihi’s memories of those he lost in New York, juxtaposed with the young men he encountered in Berlin. As homage to the friends he lost, but also serving as a reminder of the solidarity in the LGBT society, Sahihi has photographed 20 undressed men while claiming: “We see you. You are beautiful. We stand by you. We love you.”
“Beautiful Berlin Boys” will be on display at Kehrer Gallery, Berlin, from 3 December 2016 until 28 January 2017. And to accompany the show there’s the 48-page hardback photo book of the same name, which has been published by Kehrer Verlag.
Ashkan Sahihi, Beautiful Boys Berlin, 2016
Ashkan Sahihi, Beautiful Boys Berlin, 2016
Ashkan Sahihi, Beautiful Boys Berlin, 2016
Ashkan Sahihi, Beautiful Boys Berlin, 2016