My name is Ahmad Aali (aka Boyouk Aga), son of Sakinah (aka Galin Aqa) and Mostafa. Born in 1935 in Tabriz, I am a graduate of photography. My birth certificate bears the number 22. For the past several years this number, 22, has showed up in different “Audio/visual” forms in my life, reminding me of something that I am yet to discover.
In 1935, the Kandovan tunnel opened. In the same year Ahmad Shamlou turned ten. Mansour Ghandriz was also born in the same year in Tabriz. This is the year the German Photographer, Dieter Appelt, was born. Also in this year is Hossein Aqa Shiyassi. Every single month, give or take few days, for the past forty years, I have been sitting on the chair of his barbershop. I have fallen asleep to the tune of his scissor and the buzz of his electric razor. It was him who cut my pony tail to crew. There are many others who were born in 1935 but there is no need to mention them here.
I confess that I fell in love three consecutives times; at 14, with painting; at 25, with photography and at 42, with Mina Nouri. The last one complemented the previous two.
From the book “Aali’s Book”, Nazar Publishing House