A Different View of Iran (18 Photos)
December 20, 2014 10:03 AM   Subscribe

"20 years of news and photos from Iran have been fairly uniform: a woman in a burqa, public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and rumors of nuclear weapons. However, the reality of everyday life in this ancient country is more complex and diverse." A Different View of Iran: photos from award winning photographer Hossein Fatemi.
posted by DarlingBri (35 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
Beautiful photos. I should try orange juice in a hookah sometime. Captions sure could use a proofreader though.
posted by oceanjesse at 10:29 AM on December 20, 2014


Newsflash: Iranian government/regime/media coverage not all that representative of Iranian people. See also: USA.
posted by CosmicRayCharles at 10:36 AM on December 20, 2014 [5 favorites]


Terrific! Love the photos! So happy to see that real life doesn't (always? often?) match the news-eye view.
posted by Glinn at 10:41 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


Not allowed to take dogs out of the house? :-(
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 10:56 AM on December 20, 2014 [4 favorites]


I would love to go to that country.
posted by Nevin at 11:00 AM on December 20, 2014


Very cool photos! For more views of modern Iran, I also recommend The Tehran Times, which is a street style/art/culture blog.
posted by bookish at 11:04 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


The population of Iran is very young, a few years back, 70% were under 30. We need to get off of Iran. When we do they will just be framed by their haters. My take on them is they just told us to F-off a few years back, in no uncertain terms, and went about their business. I love the US, but not everyone has to function as a vassal state. I wince at theocracy, oh my God it is the antedeluvian author of all things evil, but following right behind is the energy industry, and the surveillance industry facillitating every means of theft, from tangibles, to intangibles minor items like, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Those Iranis look pretty alive and happy in their private and public moments.
posted by Oyéah at 11:10 AM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]


These photos are really nice! My grandfather did epidemiological research on cancer in Iran in the 60s and 70s so my grandparents visited there fairly often. I have seen a whole bunch of photos from that time and what struck me when I first saw them as a teenager, being born in the 80s, was how things had that sixties and seventies look. So much looked very western. It's interesting to see how many western cultural norms survive as underground culture in Iran.

Oh, and what's on the walls and ceiling in this picture of women smoking hookahs and purpose does it serve? Is it to capture any smoke?
posted by Kattullus at 11:18 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


Photos of Iran prior to religious take over can be viewed and appreciated as nostalgia; and certainly there is today and underground Iran, where young folks in secret live a life not allowed outwardly, but to suggest that Iran would be a nice spot had it not been for the United States is a great simplification of what Iran has become.
posted by Postroad at 11:34 AM on December 20, 2014 [8 favorites]


I remember way back there was a post about Rick Steves' Iran as well. (tho bitrot has set in, his journal is here, and yay, https)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:43 AM on December 20, 2014


I should add that these are especially powerful after recently watching Persepolis and reading Zahra's Paradise.
posted by oceanjesse at 11:43 AM on December 20, 2014


I did not suggest Iran was or is a nice spot, before we became involved or after. Iran is its own spot, whatever that happens to be. The phrase, "you can't go home again," might apply to Iran, if one cannot flourish in a theocracy not inclusive of your existence. If people want a free society they have to make that a national agenda, and remind all elements of society, continuusly, that is the agenda. Maybe this is not so easy in Tehran, Ferguson, or Tel Aviv for that matter.
posted by Oyéah at 11:48 AM on December 20, 2014


I've seen lots and lots of family photos from before and after the revolution and it makes me sad how incredibly chic and modern people used to look and how that changed overnight. Suddenly no cocktail dresses, no clean-shaven men in nice suites, no nightclubs ...

I think I've linked to Tehran Disco before.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:48 AM on December 20, 2014 [1 favorite]


A while back I saw a couple of art films from Iran. They were not allowed showings in regular theaters, but could show in an educational venue. They were a visual feast, the countryside was beautiful, they were human stories. No broad humanization of the Irani people was allowed at the time. Maybe it has changed.
posted by Oyéah at 11:54 AM on December 20, 2014


Beautiful photographs, thanks for sharing. Everyday Iran is a crowd-sourced version of the same idea.

And I'm guessing all the grammar weirdness is the result of Google translate or something similar? It doesn't take away from the photos, but I would love to know what some of them meant to say.
posted by Alexandra Michelle at 11:56 AM on December 20, 2014 [2 favorites]


What would it take to overthrow the theocracy? Are they supported by the military? By the rural population? I can't understand how they have managed to stay in power so long in the face of such a young population.
posted by Ber at 12:24 PM on December 20, 2014


A former co-worker of mine had some amazing stories about being a Persian in an Iranian country. That's how most of the Iranian ex-pats I've met think of themselves: They are Persian, connected to 2500 years of history and culture and empire, most of it pre-Islam. They are not Iranian. All of the clamping down, the religious ridiculousness, that's Iranian. Secret parties late into the night, art and beauty, illicit goods, being free to say what you want, that's Persian.

In his case, he was sentenced to death for distributing pornography. He made it out with some timely bribes to prison guards and masterful bluffing.
posted by clawsoon at 12:27 PM on December 20, 2014 [19 favorites]


Ber: What would it take to overthrow the theocracy? Are they supported by the military? By the rural population? I can't understand how they have managed to stay in power so long in the face of such a young population.

To your questions: Yes and yes. They are the military, more-or-less, and they are supported by the rural population. The Westernization of Iran under the Shah happened mostly among wealthy people in the cities, and was imposed with efficient brutality by SAVAK. The generation which doesn't remember SAVAK but does remember the brutality of Khomeini - the population that's partying in these pictures - is only now beginning to come into its own.

One thing that's often forgotten about Iran is that it's currently the closest thing to a stable democracy among the Islamic countries of the Middle East. The range of candidates is limited, much like the range of candidates in early British and American elections was limited, but there is a choice. The protests after Ahmadinejad's election in 2009 happened because voters had come to expect fair elections within that limited range of choices, and they felt they didn't get it.

Iranian/Persian culture and economy is rich enough and complex enough that I wouldn't be surprised to see it evolve into a full democracy within a few decades, if we don't bomb it to smithereens first. The Council of Guardians - the theocratic core of the Iranian regime - could easily drift into irrelevance after a few populist elections, the same way that the British crown and Japanese emperors did.

Or so I like to think.
posted by clawsoon at 12:51 PM on December 20, 2014 [16 favorites]


My take on them is they just told us to F-off a few years back, in no uncertain terms, and went about their business.

"Throughout the existence of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the slogan [death to America] has formed a pillar of its revolutionary values. It is regularly chanted at Friday prayers and other public events, which is often accompanied by a burning of the flag of the United States. These events include the November 4 anniversary of the U.S. embassy seizure, which Iranian leaders declared in 1987 as a national holiday called "Death to America Day." State-sponsored murals that feature the slogan "Death to America" are common in Iranian cities, particularly Tehran."

Those Iranis look pretty alive and happy in their private and public moments.

"Six Iranians arrested for appearing in a video dancing to Pharrell Williams' song Happy have been sentenced to up to one year in prison and 91 lashes, their lawyer says.

The sentences were suspended for three years, meaning they will not go to prison unless they reoffend, he adds."

I can't understand how they have managed to stay in power so long in the face of such a young population.

Maybe quite a few people in Iran are actually ok with women in burqas, public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and the nuclear program?
posted by iviken at 1:02 PM on December 20, 2014 [4 favorites]


Oh, and what's on the walls and ceiling in this picture of women smoking hookahs and purpose does it serve? Is it to capture any smoke?

I'm wondering too. Looks a bit like animal skins.
posted by bunderful at 1:03 PM on December 20, 2014


Maybe quite a few people in Iran are actually ok with women in burqas, public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and the nuclear program?

Maybe quite a few people in the US are actually ok with unfettered access to guns, rampant and racist executions, the brutalising and murder of black people by the police and the nuclear programme?

But given that it is surely unproductive to reduce nations to their maddest and most miserable extremes, I'm not sure what agreeing on this would tell us about either country, though. Apart from maybe that mutual demonisation by Iran and the USA is probably part of the problem, rather than the solution.
posted by howfar at 1:16 PM on December 20, 2014 [23 favorites]


Great photos, but that's a rather sleazy site with badly translated captions; I recommend the much wider selection here.

As for the politics, clawsoon is on the money. It should not be forgotten that there is a higher percentage of women in the Majles than in the US Congress, and 60 percent of university students are women. Things are going to change, even if slower than one might like and in directions that will not necessarily bring joy to the heart of the progressive Westerner. It's a different country with different traditions. I can only urge people to read Iranian literature (like Jamalzadeh's wonderful Isfahan Is Half the World: Memories of a Persian Boyhood) and watch Iranian cinema, especially the glorious masterpieces of the '90s (Abbas Kiarostami! Jafar Panahi! Majid Majidi! Darius Mehrjui! Mohsen Makhmalbaf! at least as many great directors as the French New Wave boasted), and try not to judge an entire country of diverse people by a few news stories.
posted by languagehat at 2:33 PM on December 20, 2014 [13 favorites]


Maybe quite a few people in Iran are actually ok with women in burqas, public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and the nuclear program?

Maybe you should learn the first thing about a country before you start ignorantly criticising it: burqas are very uncommon in Iran .

World's a complex place.
posted by smoke at 2:57 PM on December 20, 2014 [15 favorites]


What would it take to overthrow the theocracy?

Man, what's with Americans not being able to even look at a photo without wanting to overthrow some country?
posted by ryanrs at 3:44 PM on December 20, 2014 [14 favorites]


The captions are indeed odd. I think they've been translated from Russian.

I didn't spend a lot of time in Tehran but these photos match my experience of Iran pretty well. I spent time in a couple of family houses in Shiraz and family life there was not remarkably different to that in the west. The older family members prayed three times a day but the younger ones- from teenagers to early thirties- rarely did. Younger women seemed inclined to see how little they could cover their hair in public and get away with it. They were entirely familiar with western pop culture and smartphones were everywhere.

My greatest frustration there was that I was never allowed in the kitchens to see how the sensational meals we ate were prepared.

This was in 2010 and I couldn't walk down the street without people telling me they didn't like Ahmadinejad.
posted by the duck by the oboe at 3:56 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]


Maybe quite a few people in Iran are actually ok with women in burqas, public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and the nuclear program?

Maybe you should learn the first thing about a country before you start ignorantly criticising it: burqas are very uncommon in Iran .

World's a complex place.


That leaves public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and the nuclear program. Burqas were mentioned in the original post, that I was referring to:
"20 years of news and photos from Iran have been fairly uniform: a woman in a burqa, public executions, demonstrations with burning flags and rumors of nuclear weapons. However, the reality of everyday life in this ancient country is more complex and diverse."

Stories like this one, about a woman jailed for watching a volleyball game, are also a part of Iran today. The fact that a number of younger people has a "liberal" and maybe even "western" lifestyle behind closed doors in Iran, is not a guarantee for political change. Change took about 50 years in Spain and Portugal, about 70 years in the Soviet Union and has not yet happened in North Korea. Articles about how "liberal" younger Iranians/Persians really are behind closed doors, may not answer why the regime still is there. The Iranian woman smoking from a hookah, may for all we know support public executions and the nuclear program.

Regarding "Maybe you should learn the first thing about a country before you start ignorantly criticising it": what's the difference between criticising a country or criticising a political system in countries like Iran, Russia, China, North Korea? Should Amnesty International stop criticising Iran for death penalties?
posted by iviken at 4:10 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]


The Iranian woman smoking from a hookah, may for all we know support public executions and the nuclear program.

I actually kind of get the point you're trying to make, but I don't think it really relates to the point of looking at this sort of material. Iran is portrayed as uniquely oppressive and fundamentalist as a propaganda technique. Its people are dehumanised in our accustomed portrayals of them. And it is ridiculous that this happens. Iran simply is not that exceptional, except in being the "baddy" in a particular Western narrative. Try being a woman or gay in Saudi Arabia, for example. I have a friend who was publically flogged before being deported from SA to Lebanon in fucking chains.

None of which is to say that the Iranian regime is anything but an oppressive despotism, simply that it is useful to get some perspective on things. People are people all over the world. They mostly want to be left alone to get on with life and look after their kids. They are not defined by the political narrative which seems most important to me or you. Maybe the reason that woman smoking shisha isn't out overthrowing the regime is that it's too much trouble for the likely benefit. Looking at the effects of regime change in Iraq and Libya as examples, can you really blame her?
posted by howfar at 4:51 PM on December 20, 2014 [7 favorites]


Not allowed to take dogs out of the house? :-(

Nope.
posted by homunculus at 5:00 PM on December 20, 2014


The captions are directly lifted and Google translated from this Russian site, which has one more (mildly NSFW) photo.

Iran seems like an amazing country. I'd love to go, but apparently US citizens have to be accompanied by a tour guide at all times, and that's just not how I like to travel. Maybe someday if the US normalizes relations. Cuba gives me some hope.
posted by pravit at 5:07 PM on December 20, 2014


“walking dogs, trading them or keeping them at home will be punishable by 74 lashes or a fine of 1m to 10m Tomans [an equivalent of £200 to £2,000],”

Sounds like your average HOA covenants.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:11 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]


Six Iranians arrested for appearing in a video dancing...

Neat photos, and I love looking at these mini-slices of real life, but I worry about these folks being recognized and thus vulnerable.
posted by BlueHorse at 9:16 PM on December 20, 2014


I am traveling to Iran next year, when I turn 60. Mrs. Breadbox and I visited Cuba in February for her 60th. Given the short time on this planet, I relish seeing countries that cause so much consternation for the good old USA and our skewed Christian ideals. As it turns out, everyday inhabitants of the enemy of our State are good people.

To me, travel is about learning. To wallow up to a pool bar in Cancun, or eat and gamble on a floating hotel is such a waste of my time. I will never forget the recent conversation with a lovely representative while discussing the sale of our ill advised time share in Aruba. She reminded me, "At your resort, everyone speaks English, and it's just like you never left America." Sigh.
posted by breadbox at 11:27 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]


I'm an American who traveled to Iran last year. It is wildly different than the expectations one has solely from looking at western media. In the major cities (Tehran, Esfahan, Shiraz) life looks very similar to life in New York where I live. The glaring difference and the one my wife started getting sick of after only a couple days was the enforced Islamic modesty laws - head scarf, long sleeves, rusari/overcoat - and the public division of the sexes. This enforced separation really start wearing on you and slowly starts creeping into your mind. My wife tripped on the outskirts of Yazd and her head scarf fell back, fully exposing her hair. Instead of helping her up, I instinctively adjusted her head scarf. No one was even really around.

As to the desire to overthrow the theocracy, I think it is a pipe dream. Despite the demographics and the generally western leaning populace (especially the urban middle class and the wealthy) no one is interested in getting rid of the Shia character of iranian democracy. The youth can be both desirous of greater personal freedom and still want a religious country.

Iran is a fascinating place and I really enjoyed visiting there. There is so much more going on there beyond the media flash points.
posted by Falconetti at 6:33 AM on December 21, 2014 [6 favorites]


The captions are indeed odd. I think they've been translated from Russian.

Or maybe even from Persian...
posted by sour cream at 8:41 AM on December 22, 2014


An interview in The New York Times with Hossein Fatemi which includes photos not in the set linked above.
posted by Kattullus at 11:46 AM on December 30, 2014


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