Amir Zaki, Building and Becoming

Zaki makes photographs that are slightly off-key, like a troubling thought you can’t dislodge. Architectural studies were the focus of Zaki’s previous series, in which he incorporated strange, invented symbols into the signage of ordinary churches, gas stations and strip mall eateries. His pictures are seamless and quite beautiful. —Art in America

Amir Zaki makes stately, often elegant photographs that subtly undermine perceptions of coherence and stability in architecture. His relentlessly inquisitive spirit uncovers the peculiar, the precarious, the buoyant and the beautiful in the structures we tend to pass with little thought. Broadening his scope here from the architecture itself to the incongruous intertwining of architecture and nature, he reveals telling strains of resistance and pliability in both. —Los Angeles Times

The self-described “hybrid photography” of Amir Zaki nails the essence of the subjects he captures on camera while also making them cryptic or confounding. Rules of perspective and spatial logic are frequently and ingeniously tossed aside. Wherever he turns his attention, Zaki’s eye-befuddling wizardry takes you deep below the surface.
—Seattle Times

Shrewd and elegant digital photographs.
—Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times

Amir does a really nice job of showcasing the unique character of a skatepark landscape. It can look brutalist, elegant, and otherworldly all at the same time.
—Jaxon Statzell, lead designer, CA Skateparks

Zaki’s raw, hyper-detailed photography is taken from the perspective of the skater, from decks to bowls, half- and quarter-pipes, encapsulating the sculptural fluidity and liberation presented by these free-flowing Brutalist terrains. The resulting collection of images is an honest, unabashed and detailed homage to the sport. In an age where skating has arguably lost touch with its counter-culture roots, Zaki’s photographic exploration is a testimonial callback to its origins — a reminder of the importance of space to the nurturing of worldwide phenomena.
—Wallpaper