In her series Destruction, Fataneh Dadkhah recorded decaying architectural elements in Iran, from worn wooden doors to walls covered in mangled advertisements to chipped tile revetment. This print captures a nineteenth-century mural most likely portraying a young Nasir al-Din Shah (r. 1848–96). As depicted in the photograph, the mural has suffered equally from the ravages of time and from intentional defacement, including graffiti. In its ruined state, the image of the mural has become a visual metaphor for the transformation of historical memory.

• 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.

• Komaroff, Linda. "Islamic Art Now and Then." In Islamic Art: Past, Present, Future, edited by Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, 26-56. New Haven, New York, and London: Yale University Press, 2019.