Shadi Ghadirian’s work is deeply concerned with the role of women in Iran. Her Qajar Series comments upon the paradoxical condition of women of her generation, who are caught between tradition and modernity. Growing up in the shadow of the Islamic Revolution, Ghadirian recalls witnessing forbidden activities—such as dancing, listening to music, or drinking alcohol—behind closed doors. In Qajar Series, she recreates the format of nineteenth-century studio photography but poses her sitters with contemporary objects such as newspapers, mountain bikes, and Pepsi cans, creating jarring juxtapositions of past and present that allude to the contradictions of life in contemporary Iran. Ghadirian
lives and works in Tehran and received her Bachelor of Arts in photography from Azad University in 1998.
