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, Live, 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 Windows. 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.
In the foreword for the book, 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 25 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.
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