Strange coincidence . This image is the one Shadi gave me. all those years ago , in Tehran

Shadi Ghadirian's best photograph – Iranian tradition meets the CD player

'Inspired by the Shah's provocative photos of his wives, I looked at the conflicts Iranian women face now'

- Interview by Sarah Phillips
- The Guardian, Wednesday 13 February 2013 18.00 GMT
- Jump to comments (15)

'This is actually my sister' ... from the series Qajar 1998, by Shadi Ghadirian (detail – click to enlarge)

When I was studying for my degree in Tehran, I worked at the city's Museum of Photography and got to see a lot of the national archive. Iran has a strong photographic tradition. Nasser al-Din Shah, part of the Qajar dynasty which ruled from 1794-1925, brought photography to the country after discovering it on his travels around Europe in the 19th century.

Shadi Ghadirian
Part of 'Light from the Middle East: New Photography'
V&A,
London
SW7

Until 7 April
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I was fascinated by pictures of the Shah's many wives: he would dress them up in Iranian versions of the tutu – another import, after a trip to the ballet in Paris – or photograph them nude. Islamic tradition would not even allow women's faces to be seen, so this was really radical and surprising.

When I graduated, I started working on a project inspired by those photographs. Each image shows a woman posing with a symbol of modern life while wearing traditional Iranian dress. This conflict between old and new is how the younger generation are currently living in Iran: we may embrace modernity, but we're still in love with our country's traditions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2013/feb/13/shadi-ghadirian-best-photograph#_

I am a woman and I live in Iran. I am a photographer and this is the only thing I know how to do. I began work after completing my studies. Quite by accident, the subjects of my first two series were "women". However, since then, every time I think about a new series, in a way it is related to women.

It does not make a difference to me what place the Iranian woman has in the world because I am sure no one knows much about it.

Perhaps the only mentality of an outsider about the Iranian woman is a black chador, however I try to portray all the aspects of the Iranian woman. And this completely depends on my own situation.

When I did the Qajar series of photographs, I had just graduated and the duality and contradiction of life at that time provided the motive for me to display this contrast: a woman who one can not say to what time she belongs; a photograph from two eras; a woman who is dazed; a woman who is not connected to the objects in her possession. It was very natural that after marriage, vacuum cleaners and pots and pans find their way into my photographs; a woman with a different look, a woman who no matter in what part of the world she is living, still has these kinds of apprehensions.

This time the woman is convicted of a daily repetitive routine and for this reason I named the series "Like Every Day". Now I know what I wish to say with my photographs. Until know I have had many photographs which show women as second class citizens or depict the censorship of women.

I wish to continue speaking of women because I still have a lot to say. These are my words as a woman and the words of all the other women who live in Iran where being a woman has its own unique system.

Although ultimately I create these photographs in my personal studio, however I follow social issues. The photographs are not authentic documentations but deal with current social issues.

Shadi Ghadirian

http://www.zonezero.com/exposiciones/fotografos/ghadirian/statement.htm