Untitled

* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Untitled

Series: Police Women Academy
Edition: 4/7
Iran, 2006
Photographs
Chromogenic print
27 9/16 × 39 3/8 in. (70 × 100 cm) Frame: 29 × 42 3/4 × 2 in. (73.66 × 108.59 × 5.08 cm)
Purchased with funds from Art of the Middle East: CONTEMPORARY (M.2015.1.1)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Iran’s first group of female cadets graduated from the Tehran Police Academy in 2003, after three years of

...

Iran’s first group of female cadets graduated from the Tehran Police Academy in 2003, after three years of intensive training. These two striking photographs (see also M.2015.2) were captured at a 2005 graduation ceremony. As part of their rite of passage, the all-female police units practiced martial arts, brandished their weapons, performed chase routines, and scaled walls. In keeping with the staged nature of the police pageantry, each scene is carefully framed like a still image from an action film or television show, adding to their ironic and subtle commentary on contemporary Iranian society.

Abbas Kowsari has worked as a photojournalist and photo editor for a number of leading Iranian newspapers. His press credentials have often provided him with rare opportunities as a fine art photographer. A documentarian of everyday life in Iran, he captures imagery not commonly seen in Western media. His work has been exhibited in Paris, New York, Damascus, and Tehran.

More...

Bibliography