Vrou, 2013

Between 2011 and 2013, I did an independent personal project called “Wherever Whatever,” which included trips to different and mostly remote places in the world. The imperative commitment for me during this journey was to never stay in any hotel rooms or inns, and this action itself deeply connected me with the daily and real life of the native people of each city and region, and removed any kind of distance between us. Documentary photography and small personal performances were other must-do’s along the way. Numerous moments of ‘death and life’ were experienced during these unplanned trips, many of which may be impossible for anyone to even believe.

My last trip in 2013 to a few West African countries marked the end of my two-year project. On this last trip, I began from Abidjan (the capital of Côte d’Ivoire), and after a month, I returned to Tehran. It might be interesting to briefly mention that a few days after returning home, I needed to go to the hospital where I learned that, in order to live, I must fight the two types of malaria that I was infected with at the same time. After my survival, I no longer feared death because we met.