Ajam Media Collective
Photo Essay
The Poster Arts of May Day: International Worker’s Day in Revolutionary Iran
During the Iranian Revolution, International Worker’s Day became an ideological battleground as competing political organizations— secular and religious— organized their constituents and articulated their interpretation of worker’s solidarity. Visual ephemera related to May Day, such as posters, are testaments to the pluralistic nature of the early years of the Revolution. By looking at various posters disseminated by organizations of the time, one can see how various political factions used similar visual motifs and iconography. Continue reading
Persian Rugs & the Iranian Everyday: Photographer Jalal Sepehr in Yazd
Jalal Sepehr’s Knot series (2011) is comprised of 12 images all including a Persian rug (1m x 70cm) taken in the historic city of Yazd in central Iran. Contrary to initial intentions, some of the images in Knot make use of the historic scenes and examples of architecture found in Yazd. In this series, Sepehr … Continue reading
Taking Back the Streets: Iranian Graffiti Artists Negotiating Public Space
Co-written by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Shahrzad Ghadjar and Ajam Co-Editor Rustin Zarkar. Follow Shahrzad on Twitter @spooksvilla. On the eve of Iran’s 1979 Revolution, the Iranian public sphere was transformed into places where information could be exchanged verbally, textually, and visually. The walls came alive with opinions and the chants of the masses. After revolutionary … Continue reading
Overland from Yerevan to Kabul: Trekking the Villages and Valleys of the Wakhan Corridor
Guest writer Felix de Rosen last year traveled from Armenia to Afghanistan, passing through Iran and Tajikistan en route. This article is the third part in a series about his travels (first part in the Caspian foothills of Iran can be found here and second part in Western Afghanistan here). The village of Sarhad feels like the edge … Continue reading
Overland from Yerevan to Kabul: Between Poets, Saints, and Madmen in Northern Afghanistan
Guest writer Felix de Rosen last year traveled from Armenia to Afghanistan, passing through Iran and Tajikistan en route. This article is the second part in a series about his travels (First part can be found here). The sun was up. After a night of cool, fresh temperatures, I feared the sun; it would not … Continue reading
Overland from Yerevan to Kabul: A wedding and a funeral in Iran’s Caspian foothills
Guest writer Felix de Rosen last year traveled from Armenia to Afghanistan, passing through Iran and Tajikistan en route. This article is the first part in a series about his travels. June, 2011. I had spent the last week in the tropical moisture of Rasht, Iran. My hosts were Reza and his family. Reza, an … Continue reading
Welcome to Qom: City of Samosas and Mullah Factories
The first glimpses of Qom are always a let-down. The approach begins about an hour into the journey south on the Tehran-Qom road, when, after a long stretch of craggy red hills and dusty desert, the bus reaches the top of its last peak. As it passes the summit and begins its final descent, laid … Continue reading
