Vital Space, a storybook of three generations of Iranian women photographers

In 2001, Anahita Ghabayan Etehadiye established the Silk Road Gallery, the first modern photography gallery in Tehran. He exposes the views of the society of his country, reveals intimate, everyday and little-known faces. In 2009, he was the artistic director of the second edition of Photoquai, the Paris Biennale of World Images, and placed Iran in images from the piers of Paris to the Monnaie de Paris. In 2011, he published the first book about Iranian photography. In 2017, at the Rencontres d’Arles, he co-curated a huge exhibition of huge paintings, Iran, 38 Today he publishes a manifesto book, Espace Vital, Iranian women photographers*, which combines the work of three generations. Zoom in on the interview, in perfect French, from London.

Iran in the video. couple sentenced to 10 years in prison for viral dance video

Miss Figaro. – Why publish this book today?
Anahita Ghabayian Etehadiyeh. – Because now women are trying to make their voices heard, and that is very important. I admire their courage in general, and the women of my country in particular. I have been working with photography for more than twenty years. In Iran, he talks a lot about everyday life through stories or fairy tales that bring us closer to reality. This book presents the history of modern Iran and contributes to what is happening. My role was to bring these stories together.

The book brings together three generations of female photographers, why this choice?
There are really three generations with different goals. The first generation of pioneers, Hengame Golestan and Rana Javadi, extensively documented the news of the 1979 revolution, when it was very difficult for them to work without the accompaniment of their husbands. Then, when they wanted to go to the front of the Iran-Iraq war, they were not allowed. Then Rana focused on the war footage shot by her husband, with which she made a photomontage.

Photography is a means of expression, which gives the opportunity to talk about everything, to express a kind of cultural resistance by multiplying approaches;

Anahita Ghabayian Etehadie

Second generation women like Shadi Ghadiryan or Gohar Dashti were influenced by memories or their family memories. They started photography in the late 1990s, a more favorable time when the political space opened up a bit; photography was taught at the university, photo books came. They commit to creating their own story by constructing and directing their photographs, like Mariam Takhtkesian or Ghazaleh Rezai. With the opening of the Internet and more frequent trips abroad, the third generation is interested in more intimate projects, mixing all topics and letting loose. The ubiquitous feminism in their views has crossed all these generations, for example from Shadi Ghadiryan to Mariam Firouzi.

Why did you choose this title? Habitat: ?
Photography is a means of expression that gives the opportunity to talk about everything, to express a kind of cultural resistance by multiplying approaches without engaging in politics and without suffering its consequences.

Photojournalism, documentary or artistic images are visual poetry

Anahita Ghabayian Etehadie

In your foreword you write: “Commitment and poetry are the key words of the combined work”…
Everything in Iran is poetry, and it has been since the beginning of our culture. Poetry has penetrated every corner of society without the trappings of social class. Photography is its modern version. In other words, photojournalism, documentary or artistic images are visual poetry.

Tell us about your gallery in Tehran, Silk Road…
For more than twenty years, I have never made a good living, but I have been able to flourish thanks to it, with exhibitions, meetings, travels… Today, the gallery is a kind of platform where artists meet and where sometimes the unexpected happens. results are obtained. For me, it’s a luxury that saves me from getting lost in the everyday. This is my living space…

*”Biosphere: Iranian Women Photographers”, edited by Anahita Ghabayan Etehadieh, Éditions Textuel, 160 p., €45.

In the video, Marjane Satrapi. her clip in defense of Iranian women