Untitled from the Qajar Series

Islamic Art Now: Contemporary Art of the Middle East
© Shadi Ghadirian
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
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Untitled from the Qajar Series

Descriptive: Sitting woman with sunglasses

1998
Photographs
Gelatin-silver bromide print
Image: 9 5/8 x 6 1/2 in. (24.45 x 16.51 cm); Sheet: 10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.32 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by the Art of the Middle East Acquisition Fund, Art of the Middle East Deaccession Fund, the Ralph M. Parsons Fund, the Joan Palevsky Bequest by exchange, and Catherine Benkaim, with additional funds provided by Angella and David Nazarian (M.2008.35.1)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

...
Inspired by the studio portraiture of the late nineteenth century, Shadi Ghadirian re-created the earlier settings in a set of thirty-three photographs known as the Qajar series. She employed painted backdrops and dressed her models in vintage clothes to emulate the fashion of the day—headscarves and short skirts worn over baggy trousers, and thick, black eyebrows. She added modern-day elements, such as a pair of sunglasses (M.2008.35.1), a Pepsi can (M.2008.35.9), and a single-lens reflex camera (M.2008.35.14) to create ironic imagery that reflects the tension between tradition and modernity in Iranian society.
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Bibliography

  • Issa, Rose, ed. Shadi Ghadirian: Iranian Photographer. London: Saqi Books, 2008.
  • Komaroff, Linda. In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2018.