Contemporary photography as a cultural practice by diasporic Iranians in Europe

18/11/2016 to 31/03/2023

The project explores the visual culture of contemporary photography as central medium of socio-political expression in the light of ongoing political restriction and repression. With a focus on professional artistic and documentary photographers from Iran who have migrated to Europe, the aim of the project is an anthropological investigation of photography as cultural "production in times of political crises, change and transnational migration. Protests against totalitarian politics in Iran have been going on since the revolution in 1979, whereas in 2009 the “Green Revolution” protests responding to the presidential elections reached another peak. The remarkable political oppression that followed the protest, forced numerous Iranians to leave the country. Among them were many professional photographers who established a transnational visual culture of critique. This project will investigate photography by migrant Iranians as an emancipatory tool for a culture of critique across geo-political borders and as an important source for alternative narratives in contrast to the state-controlled media presentation. With its focus on transnational migration and artistic intervention of photographic practice, the study will challenge and push the theoretical and methodological boundaries of anthropology."