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Shadi Ghadirian, Untitled from the Qajar Series , 1998 | LACMA Collections

Shadi Ghadirian
Untitled from the Qajar Series 1998

Not on view

Sepia-toned photograph of two women in a portrait studio, one seated and one standing behind her, both wearing hijabs and embroidered traditional garments, with a painted architectural backdrop and a studio light on a stand to the left

Artist or Maker: Shadi Ghadirian
Title: Untitled from the Qajar Series
Date Made: 1998
Medium: Silver bromide print
Dimensions: Image: 9 9/16 x 6 7/16 in. (24.29 x 16.35 cm); Sheet: 9 15/16 x 8 in. (25.24 x 20.32 cm)
Credit Line: 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
Accession Number: M.2008.35.21
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Art of the Middle East: Contemporary
Curatorial Notes: This photograph is from a series of thirty-three portraits by Shadi Ghadirian, a contemporary artist who was inspired by the studio portraiture first introduced to Iran in the late nineteenth century under the Qajar dynasty (1794–1925). In order to re-create the earlier setting, Ghadirian employs painted backdrops and dresses her models in vintage clothes to emulate the fashion of the day: headscarves and short skirts worn over baggy trousers, as well as thick, black eyebrows. She adds modern elements to these traditional scenes, such as a Pepsi can, a boom box, a bicycle and an avant-garde Tehran newspaper. She has said of her work, "My pictures became a mirror reflecting how I felt: we are stuck between tradition and modernity."
Selected Bibliography: Issa, Rose, ed. Shadi Ghadirian: Iranian Photographer. London: Saqi Books, 2008.