Photographers: Iranian Living Room
Mohammad Mahdi Amya, Majid Farahani, Saina Golzar, Sanaz Hajikhani, Hamed Ilkhan, Ali Kaveh, Mahshid Mahboubifar, Mehdi Moradpour, Sahar Pishsaraeian, Negar Sadehvandi, Hashem Shakeri, Sina Shiri, Morteza Soorani, Nazanin Tabatabaei Yazdi, Ali Tajik
Under the creative direction of Enrico Bossan, head of photography at Fabrica, 15 young Iranian photographers welcome us into the “Iranian Living Room”, a unique space beyond global media and local state. This is where life is lived in private in Iran; it is often where life takes place, in fact.
In this living room both literal and metaphorical, we are privileged to discover multiple interpretations of Iranian reality: cultural differences and similarities, solitude and conviviality, relaxation and excitement, dressing up for an interior life versus dressing up for the street, the rhythms of religious ceremony and the patterns of everyday life.
Where much life on the street is presented by the world’s media as foreign and inhibited, behind these closed doors the lens captures a life that is immediately recognisable in all its untrammelled richness. It takes on a central role as a kind of counterpoint to the contested street, functioning as a new public sphere. It is both far away and close to home. These vignettes are framed by young photographers who, through their own storytelling, might help change the stories told about Iran.
Iranian Living Room is the first of a series of editorial projects self-published by Fabrica. - burn magazine