Tahmineh Monzavi’s photography chronicles the intricacies of social struggle within Iranian society. She spent three years photographing a small women’s shelter, where she met Tina, a trans woman who, after she was kicked out of her family home at fifteen, was embraced and accepted by the women who lived at the shelter for many years. Struck by Tina’s story, Monzavi launched an independent photo series dedicated to sharing snippets of Tina’s life, which eventually led to her making a documentary film. In this image she captures Tina, who passed away in 2020, as she sits alone on Tehran’s metro, emphasizing the isolation and alienation she felt living as an outcast of Iranian society. Monzavi has been working as a professional photographer since 2005. In 2012, she was arrested as part of a larger government crackdown on the press and was imprisoned for one month, but upon her release she continued producing work that captured the realities
and hardships of Iranians.
