By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

The Silk Road gallery is without the doubt one of top places in Tehran for exhibitions of photography.  One main reason is that it is solely devoted to photography and works of photographers.  Last week we went to a special event at Silk Road where they were exhibiting some of the award-winning and most commercially successful photographers in Iran.

Work of Bahman Jallali

The exhibition exhibited works by the old master of photography- Bahman Jallali - whose work has reached the British Museum.  Recently his work was sold for thousands of dollars at an Iranian arts work auction in Dubai organised by the famous Christies Auction House of London.

Work of Rana Javadi

The other photographers at this exhibition were Rana Javadi, Mehran Mohajer, Shadi Ghadirian and Peyman Houshmandzadeh.   Mrs Anahita Ghabaian Ettehadieh is the chief director of the gallery but it is run and managed by Kiarash Ghavidel Firouz.

Work of Rana Javadi

Peyman Houshmandzadeh is a well accomplished photographer who experiments with the new in order to present the old in a more fascinating way, and at this exhibition his portraits were most interesting and intriguing.  He is also philanthropic at heart and recently one of his photos was given as a gift to appear at Mahak (a charity organization for children with cancer) calendar.  

Whereas Rana Javadi’s works give a mixture of nostalgia and hard reality of presence, they also give the viewer a sense of calmness and a step short of peace.

Works of Shadi Ghadirian

Shadi Ghadirian is a modern photographer with an emphasis on women.  Ghadirian is considered as one of Iran’s top avant-garde artists.  She earned this through one of her most famous series of works, where she shows veiled women (wearing chadors) with their faces concealed by a saucepan, an iron, a colander, a broom etc.  - a very powerful statement about women condemned to hide their true personalities by staying in the kitchen or just being a housewife.  This time she showed the figure of a woman surrounded by computer icons and only her face was visible.

Work of Bahman Jallali

Bahman Jallali on the other hand has found a unique way of presenting women from the Qajar era, using mirrors and or compiled as multi layers of collage. Mehran Mohajer's works are more of an artistic kind.

Works of Mehran Mohajer

All the five photographers have had many exhibitions inside Iran and abroad including USA, Europe and Asia. They have won many awards and had many books published in particular Mr Bahman Jallali who was one of the first people in Iran to use photography as an art and set up the first Museum of photography in Iran.  Like Mr Mohajer he has been teaching photography at many of Iran Universities all over Iran.

There are two couples among this group, Mr Jallali and Ms Javadi and Ms Ghadirian and Mr Houshmandzadeh are both married couples who enjoy photography as a profession and an art form.

Mr Jallali and Ms Javadi 

This exhibition was quite varied and I found the new photographs by Ms Ghadirian and Mr Houshmandzadeh most attractive.  We saw many well known faces during our visit and we wish them all the very best in their forthcoming international shows.

This is the gallery's contact details

Silk Road Gallery
112, Lavasani (Farmanieh) St. Tehran, Iran
tel:+98-21-22727010
fax:+98-21-22727011
www.silkroadphoto.com
info@silkroadphoto.com