As a photographer and picture editor for some of Iran’s leading newspapers, Abbas Kowsari has been uniquely placed to see every side to what appears (from the outside at least) to be an impenetrable country. Although many of the papers he has worked for have subsequently been shut down by state sanctions, he remains in the thick of it as senior photo editor for Tehran newspaper Shargh, and his work has been published internationally by the likes of Time, the New York Times, Paris Match and Der Spiegel.
It’s easy to understand the appeal to foreign audiences; Kowsari shows us a country rich in alien sights, from deserts strewn with the skeletons of war machinery to the sight of trainee policewomen in flowing chador cloaks abseiling down the side of a building. I would not mess with the Tehran police. I also wouldn’t be keen on the communal showers if that’s what it looks like on the floor in one of Kowsari’s Masculinity A series shots. Peeing in the shower is bad enough, but that is way beyond the pale to my Western eyes. The Wapping Project Bankside has selected a body of work representing several series completed between 2006 and 2012, and the exhibition is available to view until 28 February.
Masculinity A series, 2006
70 x 105 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 7
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Light series, 2012
100 x 150 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 7
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Women Police Academy series, 2006
70 x 105 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 7
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Shade of Water series, 2008
70 x 105 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 5
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Light series, 2012
100 x 150 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 7
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Masculinity A series, 2006
70 x 105 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 7
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Women Police Academy series, 2006
70 x 105 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 7
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
Shade of Earth series, 2008
70 x 105 cm
Digital C-type print on metallic paper
Edition of 5
© Abbas Kowsari
Courtesy, Abbas Kowsari and The Wapping Project Bankside
