Photographer #212: Newsha Tavakolian

Newsha Tavakolian, 1981, Iran, is a self-taught photographer. Her work has been published in magazines as Time Magazine, Newsweek and Stern. Her main focus lies on women's issues. She started out as a photojournalist, covering stories in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon amongst others. Slowly her work has shifted towards a more documentary and creative approach. In her series "listen", she photographed six female singers who are not allowed to sing solo, perform in public or produce CD's due to the Islamic tenets. She then created six images and turned them into CD covers for these singers. As a statement she left the CD cases empty. Newsha's portfolio is filled with interesting stories. The following images come from "listen" and Mother of Martyrs.

Website: www.newshatavakolian.com

Photographer #051: Shadi Ghadirian

Shadi Ghadirian, Iran, 1974, got international recognition with her series Qajar in 1998. Qajar are images of woman dressed in the 19th century Qajar-style. The pictures are also taken that way, but Shadi has added a few modern touches. She points out the difficulties of tradition and modernisation of the women in Iran today.

In the series Like EveryDay she depicts all the things women have to do on a daily basis. Making the appliances their face symbolises how women are looked upon.

Her latest work is White Squar, objects of war with a red ribbon, making it a gift. The objects are photographed completely isolated.

Website: www.shadighadirian.com