Photo : courtesy of the artist
Deeply marked by the Iran-Iraq war (1980–88), the younger generation of Iranian photographers often returns to that reality, which has had a profound impact on Iranian society. Gohar Dashti tackles the subject explicitly in Today’s Life and War (2008). Yet her images go beyond references to a specific event, providing a clear illustration of the shift that occurs between the attempt to preserve day-to-day life in wartime and the “day-to-day becoming” of conflict. Her photographs revolve around the contrast between the staging of a young couple’s routine — meals, TV, newspapers — and a scenography of war made of armoured vehicles, soldiers, and sandbag shelters. The formal declensions of photography take the representation of war, conventionally associated with photojournalism, toward a more conceptual and symbolic dimension made of disjunctions and discrepancies between the subject and the setting.
This content is available with a Digital or Premium subscription only. Subscribe to read the full text and access all our Features, Off-Features, Portfolios, and Columns!
Already have a Digital or Premium subscription?
Don’t want to subscribe? Additional content is available with an Esse account. It’s free and no purchase will ever be required. Create an account or log in:
