IN THE SPIRIT FO RED: TAHMINEH MONZAVI
Red protects itself. No color is as territorial. It stakes a claim, is on the alert against the spectrum.
Derek Jarman
A documentary photographer, Tahmineh Monzavi follows and captures the lives and realities of Iran: male taylors sewing bridal dresses; drug addicts, some of whom successfully go through rehabs, while most don't, continuing lives tinted by violence, addiction and poverty; a transgender woman in a threateningly, even deadly intolerant society.
The scary stories, the dark stories, the sad stories, some with a glimpse of light, all very real and intense.
After a traumatising arrest and a following two-year break in her photographic practice, Tahmineh restarted her documentary photography: captivated by the ruins of the historical buildings of Iran and Afghanistan, the dramatic landscapes of the south Iranian Hormuz island and the northernmost settlement in the world, Longyearbyen in Svalbard.
If one says ‘Red’ – the name of color – and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different.
Josef Albers
The red river: to remember historical and political injustices, to remind of human rights, and to draw attention to critical social issues.
Image courtesy: Tahmineh Monzavi.
