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DARIUSH ZANDI

Born 1952

Tehran, Iran

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Dariush Zandi’s love of photography began as a child in his native Tehran, where he would spend summers helping at his local photography studio. Receiving his first camera at the age of eight, the camera has been his companion since then. His love of photography flourished during his university years while studying art, architecture and urban design in New York City. He later honed his photography skills during his film and photography studies in New York and California.

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Zandi, alongside a group of close friends and colleagues, developed the first art institute in Dubai in the early 1980s, Dubai Art Centre. While programming for design and architecture classes; he established the photography wing there, organizing lectures, exhibitions, and field trips.


His photos have appeared in numerous publications, books & magazines including Those Were The Days, Dubai: The Arabian Dream, 24 Hours Dubai, Sky Hunters, Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, and Architectural Heritage of the Gulf (of which he is a co-author), and can be found in corporate collections such as Reuters, Land Rover, Emirates Airline and more. His commercial work, meanwhile, has been used in international ad campaigns by global brands, including Coca-Cola and Nestlé.

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By bringing the two areas of photography and architecture/urban planning together, Zandi’s focus is on how photography and architecture can work to preserve and renew urban spaces while honouring the cultural fabric of an area.


He has played an integral part in some of the UAE’s most important restoration projects, such as Sheikh Saeed House, and Dubai Museum, among others. Zandi has served as Chairman of the UAE Architectural Heritage Society and is the founder of two establishments, the photography studio Total Design and a gallery, Total Arts. Both are housed within The Courtyard also initiated by him as the first dedicated art space in Dubai.

Past Exhibitions at Total Arts Gallery
As Artist 

dreamscape installtion Hind Bin Demaithan Shaqaueq Arabi nov 23 4.jpg

Dreamscape 

Nov 2023 - Jan 2024

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In A Space Between Rocks

March - May 2022

Exhibition view.jpeg

Second Life

Jan 2021

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Sinking Ships

March 2012

Dariush Zandi, Maghreb Prayer on the Rooftop Sanaa, Sanaa, Yemen, May 2009 copy.jpg

Yemen: Treasure Trove

Nov - Dec 2009

scraps exhibition - Copy.jpg

Scraps

Nov 2009

 Opening Hours: everyday 10AM - 6 PM

 Total Arts at the Courtyard © 

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