This 8th edition of the MAST Photography Grant was curated by Urs Stahel, who explains, “The classical themes of industrialization and of industrial photography are factories, workers, machines, furnaces, steel casting, assembly line work, and more besides. Yet, [...] industrialization goes much further, much deeper, and it is highly complex. It became a new society, a new structure of life, a new state of mind, an all-encompassing system for humans.”
Soleimani's project, Flyways, explores multiple escape routes from a world increasingly dominated, in her view, by the destruction of humans and other life forms. In her project presentation, Soleimani writes, “I seek to make [...] a new series of photographs oriented around two modes of labor urgently needed in a world driven by the direct—and indirect— destruction of human and non-human life.”
Sheida Soleimani, Egress, 2024.
Sheida Soleimani, In Commission, 2024.
Sheida Soleimani was one of five finalists, along with Felicity Hammond, Gosette Lubondo, Silvia Rosi, and Kai Wasikowski. The jury, which included Isabella Seràgnoli, François Hébel, Milo Keller, Michael Mack, Simon Njami, Alona Pardo, Giovanna Silva, Urs Stahel, and Francesco Zanot, selected the finalists from among 42 international candidates under the age of 35.
The works of the finalists are on display in a free exhibition at the MAST Photo Gallery in Bologna, Italy, open until the 4th of May 2025.
Cover image: Sheida Soleimani, Blind Owl (detail).
