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‘Stories of Freedom’: Refugee photographer Farzad Ariannejad’s exhibition in the Netherlands

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Award-winning photographer Farzad Ariannejad fled his homeland, Iran, in search of freedom and safety, and his photographs can now be seen at the Stedelijk Museum Zutphen in the Netherlands. The exhibition Stories of Freedom is a collaboration between the Stedelijk Museum Zutphen and the Buddy to Buddy foundation. “What does freedom mean to you?” is the central question of the exhibition, which opened on July 18th, 2020.
Ariannejad’s work focuses on the lives of people, especially women, in Iran. The photographs cover the people of Iran as well as the curtailing of women’s rights and the limiting of their activities. One of the photographs features a woman in a black hijab with her back to the viewer, in front of a shop window full of dolls in white veils. “For me, freedom is living the way you want, in which no one limits you or decides for you how you should live,” Ariannejad explains through interpreter and museum volunteer Darya Pourtavakol. He did not experience that freedom in Iran. “I got in trouble there by taking my pictures. I was arrested there by the regime.”
Ariannejad fled with his wife from Iran and now lives in the Netherlands. Through friends, he discovered the Buddy to Buddy foundation, which helps to relieve isolation among refugees by linking them to people in the area. There he met Merel Hubatka, project leader at the foundation, as well as a city poet and author who was considering a new exhibition at the time.
Farzad Ariannejad has worked as a volunteer with the Pasargad Heritage Foundation and WCHV since 2010. He has been practicing photography and working as a social documentary photographer since 1997.
Ariannejad has won several international awards including the Asahi Shimbun gold medal at the 78 th International Photographic Salon of Japan in 2018, a bronze award at the PX3 in France in 2018, 1st place at the Monochrome Photography Awards in England in 2017, and the Photographer of the Year award from the Pasargad Heritage Foundation in 2011 for his photographs of Iran’s natural heritage sites. He has shown his works at many exhibitions around the world including in the Netherlands, Venice, Los Angeles, and at the University of Maryland in 2009.

Ancient Gate Discovered in Tel Ajori

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As reported by several media outlets last month (Nov 2014), excavations at Persepolis, have uncovered an ancient gate in Tale-Ajori. The joint Iranian-Italian expedition team has been exploring Tel Ajori or ‘brick mound’in Persepolis during October and November. During the recent excavations, a large gate was unearthed. Perspolis is a magnificent palace complex in Iran founded by Darius the Great around 518 BC. Even older than Persepolis itself, Tale-Ajori lies 3,500 meters outside the city and is believed that it is of great significance for understanding the Achaemenid Empire.

The expedition has been led by Alireza Askari Chaverdi Ph.D of Shiraz University and Prof. Pierfrancesco Callieri of Italian University of Bologna, and financed by provincial department of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO).

The researcher believe that most exciting findings of this excavation are 30 pieces of glazed bricks adorned with images of winged animals, incorporating mythic beasts of Elamite and Achaemenid eras in a style not unlike that of Mesopotamia and Susa in southwestern Iran. The entire outer surface and the great passageway under the gate opening are covered with the colorful glazed bricks.

The discovery of the new gate may shed new light on the role Tale-Ajori played within the ancient landscape.

Photographs were taken by Hassan Zohari and kindly shared with WCHV

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Gilan Villages: Photography by Iranian Artist Payam Jahangiry

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Gilan Villages

Photography by Iranian Artist Payam Jahangiry

Gilan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It lies along the Caspian Sea, just west of the province of Mazandaran, east of the province of Ardabil, north of the provinces of Zanjan and Qazvin. The northern part of the province is part of territory of South (Iranian) Talesh. At the center of the province is the main city of Rasht. Other towns in the province include Astara, Astaneh-e Ashrafiyyeh, Fuman, Lahijan, Langrud, Masooleh, Manjil, Rudbar, Roudsar, Shaft, Talesh, and Soumahe Sara.

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