Newsha Tavakolian, 1981, Iran, is a self-taught photographer. Her work has been published in magazines as Time Magazine, Newsweek and Stern. She started out as a photojournalist, covering stories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon amongst others. Slowly her work has shifted towards a more documentary and creative approach. In her series "listen", she photographed six female singers who are not allowed to sing solo, perform in public or produce CD's due to the Islamic tenets. She then created six images and turned them into CD covers for these singers. As a statement she left the CD cases empty.
Her most recent work, Mothers of Martyrs, is a series of portraits of mothers holding photographs of the sons they lost in the war between Iran and Iraq. ‘These mothers have been searching for solace in the pride of their sons’ patriotic deaths,’ she says. ‘Now, with the revolution thwarted by problems, are beginning to ask themselves whether their deaths served any purpose.’ This subject is very different to those she previously chose to cover in Iran: young Iranians with tight fitting clothes, large sunglasses and revealing some of their hair from beneath a veil that Tavakolian herself only wears in Muslim countries, and only in certain situations.
See an insightful interview with Tavakolian on Cafe Babel:
http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/article/18035/newsha-tavakolian-irans-inside-story.html
