A photography exhibition by
Iason
Athanasiadis to foster a deeper understanding by American public on
contemporary Iran
SoCiArts Productions co-produces the upcoming exhibition of Exploring the Other:
Contemporary Iran Through the lens of Iason Athanasiadis as the community
partner of CAFAM. The exhibition is scheduled for January 25 through March 29,
2009.
Journalist and photographer Iason Athanasiadis has set out to alter
how Westerners perceive Iran with his photo exhibition "Exploring
the Other: Contemporary Iran"
"I wanted to use this opportunity to show how varied Iran is -- what
it's really like," said Athanasiadis. "A lot of people don't know
that Iran is the birthplace of the most lenient form of Islam."
As the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution approaches, Exploring the
Other offers an alternative narrative of the country famously included in the
Axis of Evil by President George W. Bush. Through the vivid photography of
international photojournalist Iason Athanasiadis, visitors will experience an
Iran rarely seen in Western media: a land of paradox in its landscape, sacred
rituals, and social customs. Iran's numerous contradictions are revealed in
stunning color and black and white photography: the snow-capped Elburz
mountains; the vast Kavir Desert; traditional Islamic wedding rituals; a Tehran
designers first fashion show. Due to the post-revolution baby boom-today, nearly
70% of Iran's population is under 30-Iran's social fabric has become a mosaic of
old and new as traditional culture is reinterpreted by a generation that is both
enamored with global pop culture and passionate about its ancient Persian roots.
By approaching Iran from aesthetic and social viewpoints, Exploring the Other
takes the focus off Iran's politicians and realigns it squarely on the country
and its people. Athanasiadis photographs challenge the conventional media
narrative told about Iran and challenges visitors to question how media
information is presented (and filtered).
Exploring the Other will be supported by a wealth of educational programming
including lectures, book and poetry readings, film screenings, musical
performances, and workshops-designed to provide visitors with a meaningful and
more complete understanding of Iran. For more information about this program,
please visit:
www.sociarts.com/exploringtheother
Iason
Athanasiadis Bio:
Writer, photographer and television producer, Iason Athanasiadis has been
covering the Middle East, Central Asia and the
southeast Mediterranean since 1999. He earned degrees in Arabic
and Modern Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford University (BA) as well as Persian
and Contemporary Iranian Studies at Tehran's School of
International Studies (MA).
Athanasiadis lived in Iran from 2004-2007, covering conflicts in Afghanistan,
Iraq, Pakistan and Lebanon for the international media including the Times, the
Christian Science Monitor, American Prospect, British Journalism Review and the
South China Morning Post. He covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq
from Qatar for al-Jazeera, the 2004 Athens Olympics for BBC World
and the 2006 Israeli-Hizbullah war in Lebanon as a freelancer. At
the same time, his photography has been featured in solo exhibitions in
Germany, Greece and Iran, and his work
published in Der Spiegel and the Los Angeles Times, among other newspapers and
magazines.
A native of Greece, Athanasiadis is currently a Fellow at the
Nieman Foundation for Journalism at HarvardUniversity.
He is an Aristotle Onassis Foundation scholar.
