By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

With heavy heart and deep sadness I have just came back from the funeral of Bahman Jalali, the photographer, which was held at the Artists plot at Tehran's Beheshte Zahra cemetery.

The ceremony started at Artists Forum in the center of Tehran, where many mourners including devoted friends, students and colleagues as well as many well known faces in art in Iran, along with family members gathered in the bright sunshine to hear speeches by several speakers including Aydin Aghdashloo, Hamid Severi, Akbar Alemi and many others who praised Bahman Jalali's work and legacy.

Mr Samedian, the head of Artists Forum and many of his students who had helped to print very beautiful posters helped to organize the proceedings.

His body was then taken to Beheshte Zahra and several buses of mourners followed the ambulance to the Artists plot there.

He was such an easy going man and I have never heard anyone ever to say that he said anything unkind to them.  He was a gentle friendly and most helpful person and he will be sorely missed by many.

His empty place will be felt but I hope that his students, as they have in the past, will keep his memory well by making the utmost of what he taught them.  The art world will needless to say miss his warm and touching collages and the mixtures of old and new.

May he rest in peace and his blessing be to us all!

Related Article: Photographer Bahman Jalali, 1944-2010

... Payvand News - 01/17/10 ... --