Like Every Day in Iran
The Iranian photographer Shadi Ghadirian says: "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...
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…
…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."
One of the Iranian revolution's goals was to make women invisible, but Shadi Ghadirian's images give Khomeini's victims identity and, often, a face. Just like makeup and uncovered hair, these photographs represent small freedoms in a repressive society.
