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Qajar

Photograph
1998 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Shadi Ghadirian is a leading Iranian photographer with a rapidly expanding international reputation. Much of Ghadirian's work addresses the theme of Muslim women living in Iran, exploring ideas such as censorship, religion, modernity, and the status of women.

The Qajar series is modelled after studio portraits made in Iran during the Qajar period which spanned the second half of the 19th century to the first two decades of the 20th. Like their predecessors, these formal studio portraits contain props that represent the aspirations of the sitters, but the objects they pose with are jarringly modern, such as in this image, beer.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleQajar (series title)
Materials and techniques
Silver bromide print
Brief description
Photograph, from the series 'Qajar', silver bromide print, by Shadi Ghadirian, Iran, 1998
Physical description
A black and white photograph of a standing woman with headscarf holding a basket with beer.
Dimensions
  • Paper height: 30.2cm
  • Paper width: 24cm
Gallery label
This series is based on a style of photograph made during Iran’s Qajar period (1786–1925). In those portraits, sitters posed with props representing their aspirations. Here, the sitters wear costumes that approximate Qajar fashion, but the objects they pose with are jarringly modern and western – a mountain bike, a stereo or a can of Pepsi. The contrast makes a comment on the tensions between tradition and modernity that women in Iran face today. (Marta Weiss)(September 2012)
Credit line
Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography at the V&A and the British Museum
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
Shadi Ghadirian is a leading Iranian photographer with a rapidly expanding international reputation. Much of Ghadirian's work addresses the theme of Muslim women living in Iran, exploring ideas such as censorship, religion, modernity, and the status of women.

The Qajar series is modelled after studio portraits made in Iran during the Qajar period which spanned the second half of the 19th century to the first two decades of the 20th. Like their predecessors, these formal studio portraits contain props that represent the aspirations of the sitters, but the objects they pose with are jarringly modern, such as in this image, beer.
Associated objects
Bibliographic reference
Light from the Middle East: New Photography
Other number
unique A.P.
Collection
Accession number
E.361-2010

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Record createdJune 9, 2010
Record URL
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