The monumental Tehran 2006 is a metaphorical study of isolation, displacement, and social upheaval.
Inspired in part by contemporary Iranian cinema, it casts ordinary people as themselves but directed in
their placement, attitude, and movement. The scene was photographed to look like a wide-angle shot in a
film, which resulted in a panoramic view that was achieved through digital "stitching." Shot in a residential
area on the outskirts of Tehran, the setting suggests a society without a functioning infrastructure: there
are no streetlights or, for that matter, streets. Even the omnipresent billboard with its iconic images of
Iran’s revolutionary leadership seems incapable of imposing order or direction; its text suggests an
intentional irony: "We will continue [on] the path of the imam and martyrs of the revolution."
Born in Tehran, Mitra Tabrizian lives and works in London. She has exhibited and published widely in
major international museums, including her 2008 solo exhibition at the Tate Britain. Her subject matter is
both Western and Iranian and addresses a broad range of topics, especially social displacement and
alienation, through disturbing (and often staged) photographic tableaux.
