{"id":27748,"date":"2025-10-03T09:15:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T09:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/?p=27748"},"modified":"2025-10-04T02:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T02:20:02","slug":"syed-ayaz-fatmi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/2025\/10\/03\/syed-ayaz-fatmi\/","title":{"rendered":"Syed Ayaz Fatmi"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"27748\" class=\"elementor elementor-27748\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-32c9d75 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"32c9d75\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3933d14 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3933d14\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.21.0 - 22-05-2024 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#69727d;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#69727d;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\tYear of birth: 1998<br>\nWhere do you live: Ohio<br>\nYour education: MFA in Digital Art, MFA in Graphic Design<br>\nDescribe your art in three words: What, the, heck<br>\nYour discipline: Expanded Media<br>\n<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/syedway.com\/\">Website<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/the_syedway\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3ade9e2 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3ade9e2\" data-element_type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e1f0c76 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e1f0c76\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4>\u00a0<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-27730 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Syed-Headshot-Ny.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Syed-Headshot-Ny.jpeg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Syed-Headshot-Ny-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Syed-Headshot-Ny-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Syed-Headshot-Ny-600x800.jpeg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/><\/h4><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For readers meeting you for the first time, what core question does your work keep returning to?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I keep coming back to our growing relationship with technology. It feels like we\u2019re bound to it, like we can\u2019t live without it. At the same time, we\u2019re losing basic survival skills as human beings. In a strange way, it feels like we\u2019re advancing while circling back to a new kind of stone age.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your statement contrasts online performances of care with real-life empathy. What experiences pushed you to foreground this theme?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can find millions of videos of accidents, violence, and mishaps online. People shout about them on social media, but very few take action in real life. We\u2019ve become more invested in performing care online than in being social human beings who actually know their neighbors. Day by day, people seem to be getting more self-centered and pretentious.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27731 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-650x650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Candymachine-2024-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Syed Ayaz Fatmi | Candy Machine | 2024<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why machines? What does the language of gauges, pipes, and conveyor belts let you say about people that other symbols do not?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Machines are a symbol of modern mechanical life, where everything is time-bound and production-driven. They give me a literal way to express the dilemmas of life in mechanical terms.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You work across motion, interactive media, and still images. What does each medium allow you to do, and how do you decide which form a concept needs?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each medium feels infinite, and I keep rediscovering them. There isn\u2019t a fixed formula, but usually I start from a poetic angle, then imagine it visually. Whatever feels most effective and natural for the idea becomes the medium. It\u2019s like breaking something apart and then searching for the right glue to put it back together.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27732 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1055\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025-1019x1024.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025-768x772.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025-600x603.jpg 600w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-DoomscrollerSdelight-2025-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Syed Ayaz Fatmi | Doomscroller&#8217;S Delight | 2025<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You explore cultural identity and evolution. How do your experiences in Dhaka and in the U.S. surface in the textures, objects, or humor of these images?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The cultural shock wasn\u2019t huge for me when I came to the U.S. Gen Z is probably the fastest-growing global culture. It\u2019s full of revolutionary energy, and with such easy access to resources, its potential feels limitless. Humor, especially visual humor, and even the use of language, are evolving in surprisingly similar ways on both sides of the world.<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cInsecurity\u201d is one of your themes. Where does vulnerability enter your process or the narratives you construct?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s less about vulnerability entering the process and more about the narratives escaping from it. My ideas come from lived experiences and close observations, and the work follows those threads out of the vulnerable state.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27733 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1050\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024.jpg 1050w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-650x650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-600x600.jpg 600w, https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Syed-Ayaz-Fatmi-Hairsaloon-2024-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1050px) 100vw, 1050px\" \/> Syed Ayaz Fatmi | Hair Saloon | 2024<\/p><h4 style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If one of your machines could exist in the physical world, which would you build and what human habit would it measure or change?<\/h4><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If one of my machines could become real, I\u2019m not sure which one it would be, but it would probably confront our moral and ethical values and the carelessness we show toward our own lives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Year of birth: 1998 Where do you live: Ohio Your education: MFA in Digital Art, MFA in Graphic Design Describe your art in three words: What, the, heck Your discipline: Expanded Media Website | Instagram \u00a0 For readers meeting you for the first time, what core question does your work keep returning to? I keep [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27748"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28396,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27748\/revisions\/28396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visualartjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}