We are very excited to present our conversation with film photographer and filmmaker Razan Alzayani who currently floats between Lisbon, Tbilisi and the Middle East.

Razan, tell us please about your greatest inspirations or influences?

First and foremost, inspiration is everywhere. Literally. It took me a long time to realise this and be in tune with myself and my present environment to really understand and have it feed into my work. Right now, my biggest inspiration is from observing nature and the way we interact with it. I had this incessant desire to travel (and still do) to the ends of the earth to seek inspiration. It took a pandemic and a series of massive changes in my life to realise it was always in front of me -  especially in the most mundane moments.  Otherwise, I come from a photojournalism background and I love Abbas Attar’s work. There are some images that are so telling, so striking, so iconic of a certain moment in time. There’s a famous photo of a group of Iranian women sitting at a coffee shop, it’s black and white and out of focus. It’s wonderful and as the viewer you’re completely immersed in that moment in time. He’s absolutely the fly on the wall there but also elicits acknowledgement from one of the women. For a long time I aimed to be that invisible in my work, there but not there, documenting and immersing myself with people from all walks of life. Being the best fly on the wall to be able to capture the “truest” moment. 

At the moment I’m in a transitional period in my personal work, so I’m influenced by a hodgepodge of things, a great music set, a good film, a tree outside my window, a historical painting, a damn good book, and the great people in my life.  

Can you walk us through your creative process...

My creativity involves a lot of solitude and space and time to think and just be left alone with my process and thoughts. I don’t have a strict process, I just follow a disciplinal flow from inspiration to result.

How does technology and innovation affect your creativity, and/or your work? 

I embrace it and we can always use it to our advantage. Although these days with AI I do feel that the whole creative industry is unsure where this will lead us. The art of documenting something real and true will still be of great value.  I am mostly shooting film though, and I do love the meditative process of working through film stocks and color hues and just enjoying unexpected results.

Upcoming shows/projects we should know about?

My partner and I just launched Stereo868 - our brain child. We’re two filmmakers / photographers that are living a momentous time in the Arab World.   We love documenting our rising subcultures, from music, to cannabis to fashion to innovation in tech and we work with creatives on projects that inspire us. What we know most is that we want to keep surrounding ourselves in this work, documenting our beautiful region with all its nuances in our own way.

Razan, what does wellbeing mean to you?

Community, love in all its forms, self-awareness, access to nature, feeling the sun on my face, embracing every emotion, delicious slow cooked meals, curiosity and joy for life, and the ability and conviction to say no.