JTF (just the facts): Published in 2008 by
Saqi Books (
here). 64 pages, with a total of 33 color and black and white images. Includes a foreword by Marta Weiss and an essay by Rose
Issa. (Cover shot at right, via Amazon.)
The book includes work from five different photographic series:
- Untitled Qajar series, 1998-1999
- Like Every Day series, 2001-2002
- Censors' series, 2003-2004
- Be Colourful series, 2004-2005
- Ctrl+Alt+Del series, 2006-2007
Comments/Context: Shadi Ghadirian's photographs are a window into the lives of women in today's Iran, where traditional ways are constantly clashing with the tides of Western modernity. I was first introduced to
Ghadirian's work several years ago, when I saw images from her terrific
Qajar series. In these sepia toned black and white works (several of which are reproduced in this thin retrospective volume), the photographer has painstakingly re-created highly posed studio portraits from the 19
th century, complete with painted backdrops and period clothing. She has then deftly introduced a variety of anachronistic modern props: a Pepsi can, a vacuum cleaner, Ray-Ban sunglasses, a mountain bike, or a portable stereo. The effect is both dissonant and contradictory, with an underlying layer of satire and sly wit. The pictures have a jarring personal audacity and rebelliousness, the women behaving in ways that we in the West would find ordinary or commonplace, but many in their own restrictive society would find entirely inappropriate, the mix of time periods highlighting how much or how little has changed.
Ghadirian's series
Like Every Day takes on contemporary women's roles in a different manner. In these color works, she has taken portraits of patterned
chadors worn by women
inside their homes and replaced faces with everyday household implements: a rubber glove, an iron, a teapot, a cheese grater, a broom, or a cooking pot. My first reaction was that these were a light
sendup of domesticity. But looking at them further and especially when the pictures were shown together as a typology, a deeper sense of controlled and repressed unease set in; the household duties of a newly married wife in Iran are meaningfully restricted to cooking and cleaning (most of the items were apparently wedding presents), providing little in the way of societal mobility. (
Like Every Day, 2002, at right, via
Kashya Hildebrand.)
Others works in this monograph tackle other facets of a confined world, with a particular dissection of censorship. While not every series is as successful as these two,
Ghadirian is clearly making photographs that explore her own complex reality as an Iranian woman. It's an authentic perspective we don't see too much here in the West, and one that exposes a more nuanced story than we get on the evening news.
Collector’s POV: Shadi Ghadirian is represented by Silk Road Photo Gallery in Tehran (
here),
Aeroplastics Contemporary in Brussels (
here), and
Kashya Hildebrand in Zurich (
here). Only a handful of her works have made it into the secondary markets for photography, finding buyers between $4000 and $8000. As such, gallery retail (from afar) is likely the only option for interested collectors at this point. By the way, I think her work would have fit quite snugly into the
Pictures by Women show currently on view at the
MoMA (
here). And while the current political environment might make bringing this work to New York more challenging, I would certainly enjoy seeing some of these images in person.
Transit Hub:- Artist site (here)
- Features: Guardian (here), Telegraph (here), LACMA Unframed (here)
Later this week, Bonhams is having a Photographs sale in Dubai. While many Western collectors (including ourselves) might still be somewhat uncertain about bidding/buying in Dubai (and figuring out the constraints of the US sanctions on Iran), I think a flip through the catalog is an interesting window into contemporary Middle Eastern photography; there are plenty of photographers in this sale that we just don't see much of in New York. Overall, there are a total of 85 photographs on offer, with a total High estimate of $757900.
Here's the complete list of photographers represented by two or more lots in the sale (with the number of lots in parentheses):
