Izdeyar Setna

Born in 1977 in Karachi (Pakistan)
Lives and works in Toronto (Canada)

Izdeyar Setna received his Diploma (Photography) from New England School of Photography and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Photography) from Parsons School of Design, New York. He won first place in the American Society of Media Photography (ASMP) student competition in 2003 and also received the Judges’ Choice Award. BBC News selected Setna’s photograph to be part of their fifteen best images of 2004. In 2006, Christies auctioned his work for Nokia. Setna’s work was chosen to represent Pakistan at Chobi Mela, Bangladesh. In the Art of Photography Show, San Diego, USA in 2010, his photograph was one of those selected by Natasha Egan (Director and Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, USA). In 2012, Christies once again auctioned his photograph for Standard Chartered Bank for their theme “Seeing Is Believing” in Dubai. Two of Setna’s images will be included in the upcoming book Identities Now– a collection of best contemporary portrait photography selected from across the globe.

Izdeyar Setna has submitted three photographs for KB17. He states: “When you look closely at the images you will see a collage of numerous semi out-of-focus images. These numerous images create a face within a face that represents a human being who has seen, experienced and witnessed time. A witness is an observer, onlooker or even a spectator. The people in my photographs have been digitally manipulated with multiple images taken by me to create an illusion of what I have witnessed in the course of my life. These images are not meant to be clear. They're meant to create an illusion of what goes on in one's mind.”