Permanent Files presents a retrospective exhibition from 550BC, an independent Amsterdam-based publishing house, ran by visual artist Pouria Khojastehpay, focused on delving into the multifaceted intricacies of the organized crime and conflict.
550BC provides a glimpse inside the inaccessible worlds of criminality, featuring insights into the Mexican Cartels, Gang Members in Rio de Janeiro, Tehran's underground crime syndicate, favela drug lords and their proclivity for flaunting exotic animals, the Ultras orbiting Europe's football stadiums, or the inside of the American prison life.
The work of Pouria Khojastehpay offers an unfiltered anthropological documentation of the underworld, presenting a unique perspective on contemporary global organized crime in the age of social media.
From contraband smartphone photos taken in prison by incarcerated Bloods and Crips gang members to selfies and daily life snapshots of Central American cartels, 550BC tend to work directly with the individuals portrayed or involved for an untouched first person perspective.
Khojastehpay’s work has been described as "visual criminal anthropology" studying his subjects' characteristics, lifestyle, and ways of self expression always without bias or judgement.
The photography, taken by members of groups operating outside of the law, and obtained through complex and dangerous connections, can provoke fear, fascination, amusement - or a combination of both, but they also invite us to reassess our conception of the "respectable" artist or subject.
How do these contemporary radical expressions of status and menace differ from the thousands of paintings one can see in a regular museum or palazzo, depicting the sovereigns, war lords or rich merchants of centuries past?
