Saeed Ordoubadi || Learning the Language: Faces of Beauty... and more
Once upon a time, there was no light, no shadow, and no color. There was nothing but darkness. Then Soul spoke: not in words, but in light and color and the image came into being. "Soul speaks in the language of images," a wise man said a long time ago and I have been striving to learn that language to understand her when she speaks and to share my dreams with her.
I was born almost 70 years ago in the ancient city of Shiraz--the city that gave the world her deep red wine. I studied not Arts, but Economics, Applied Mathematics and Environmental Sciences at the Shiraz University, University of Maryland and the Johns Hopkins University. I worked for more than 40 years, as a researcher, a statistician, a professor, and an economist in a central bank, in a few universities, and in an international organization.
Everywhere I worked, there were lots of lights, day and night. The lights, however, were all artificial, the colors unreal, and the images appeared fake. The Soul language was not spoken. I felt Rumi’s frustration with every cell of my being: In the world of the blind and the deaf, I had a dream to share, but I was dumb. Then my retirement came, and with that came my rebirth and learning of a new language.
I moved from the noisy and crowded DC Suburb to the calm of King George. I noticed the change of colors and lights in nearby Fredericksburg—from the vibrant orange of blazing maples in fall to the inviting purple of the Liberty Town Arts. I took my first art lesson from Deb Booth, who was pouring her heart along with the colorful paints on the soulful papers. In my frequent visits to Fredericksburg Center for Creative Arts, Brush Stroke and Art First, I started to hear—with so much pleasure-- the Soul speaking. I was excited and thrilled by being exposed to this wonderful language. I was blessed to learn from wonderful artists Johnny Johnson and his students, Bill Harris, Ed King, Jean Tanks, Jan Lower, Deborah Fletcher, Asya Baldwin, members of Fredericksburg Photography Club and other photographers and local photography "meetups". It has been a marvelous soulful journey.
"Faces of Beauty … and more" is an exhibition limited to my photography and digital work and not my paintings, which are in their infancy. Works of art should speak for themselves, but I hope that they will speak for me too, and hopefully, even in my baby talk, the soul can be heard through these images, as I strive to learn her language better.
Saeed Ordoubadi
(540) 775-9581
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