A woman sits on a chair wearing clothing indicative of the Qajar dynasty period in 19th-century Iran. The image is in sepia tone, and one might almost be convinced it is a photograph from the Qajar period except for the Pepsi can the woman holds. It has been said that Shadi Ghadirian’s portraits from her seminal Qajar series display the tension between tradition and modernity through an anachronistic effect. However, this paper will argue that there is another perspective from which to view the series. First, I will introduce Shadi Ghadirian and her Qajar series. I will situate her work by referencing Abbas Amanat’s Iran: A Modern History and its details of the Qajar period. From there, I will reference Jini Watson’s analysis of how space informs narrative, to provide inferences about contemporary Tehran. The main argument being the Qajar series maintains an unspoken narrative beyond what linear time creates, like traditional versus modern, and speaks to an identity crisis that persists and is distinct from time itself.

Shadi Ghadirian is a contemporary Iranian photographer, living and working in Tehran–Iran’s capital city. She has released a collection of seminal works exploring issues related to women’s rights, female identity, Iranian identity, tradition, war, and more. This paper, however, refers to her first series titled Qajar, which is best known for demonstrating the tension between tradition and modernity (Heer, 2012, p. 537). The photos are curated so that women stand against a painted backdrop, dressed in traditional wear typical of the Qajar dynasty period of Iran (1797–1852) (Amanat, 2017, p. 179), surrounded by different artifacts purposefully creating contrast between different points in time. This contrast of time is considered anachronistic. The traditional components of the images can be linked to the Qajar dress, the painted backdrops, and the sepia-toned image. The props are modern items including a Pepsi can, a boombox, an Explorer bicycle, and a vacuum cleaner. 

A Brief History of Iran and the Qajar Dynasty

Though it has not always been the case, Iran has been for a large period of its history, including the present day, an Islamic state (Amanat, 2017). Islamic tradition persisted throughout the Qajar era and its monarch rule (Amanat, 2017, p. 180). Islam is an ancient religious system of belief–dating back to the 7th century CE–that is steeped in traditional ritual practice (Jurji, 2015, p. 178). One said proponents of Islamic tradition is the need for women to cover their bodies, including their heads with headdresses whilst in public (Amanat, 2017, p. 883). Depending on which sect of Islam one subscribes to, a woman may or may not be able to reveal their hands and their face (Amanat, 2017, p. 883). In Ghadirian’s imagery, women wearing both magnitudes of clothing exist–some with their faces shown, and others with their faces and hands covered. 

Outside of the distinctly Islamic dress, other clothing features are items indicative of the Qajar dynasty (Heer, 2012, p. 537). Interestingly, the Qajar period is characterized in a few ways. Firstly, it is characterized as a period of trying to celebrate and maintain hold of the Iranian (sometimes referred to as Persian) national identity alongside its Islamic influence (Amanat & Vejdani, 2012, p. 15). This includes consciously maintaining the Persian language and cultural texts alongside the use of Arabic needed for religious scripts and so on. In fact, the ruling powers previous to the Qajar dynasty derived their ruling philosophy from the Person epic Shahnameh–a long epic poem detailing the mythical and historical past of the Persian empire up to the introduction of Islamic faith and practice (Amanat & Vejdani, 2012, p. 15). In that way, it is an object of the national Persian identity. This is in contrast to the ruling powers before the Qajar dynasty that established Islamic tenents as the core basis for their ruling (Amanat & Vejdani, 2012, p. 13). Given the history of Iran pre and post-Islamic conquest, it’s important I think to pay attention to the context of the clothing used in the Qajar series. 

In addition to clothing remains the salient symbols of modernity as previously mentioned. A Pepsi can, a vacuum cleaner, the Explorer bicycle, the USA letterman jacket are not indicative of any distinctly Persian or Islamic artifacts, but instead proponents of global hegemony. The items are not from the 16th, 17th, or 18th century as the clothing is indicative of, and so they stand to represent symbols of modernity. Abbas Amanat (2017), an Iranian Studies scholar at Yale University, details the Qajar period in his book Iran: A Modern History. In summary, Iran is an Asian country that has maintained its sovereignty even in the face of neighboring countries being colonized at one point or another. That being said, the colonial rule and influence have surrounded Iran no doubt–particularly those of Russia, British, and the French. Even though Iran maintained sovereignty, it has been a player in many wars, especially against the Soviet Union. Iran has been known to strike deals with the British to help keep Russian troops at bay, and at various times has had to compromise with imperial powers. So while Iran has never been officially colonized, the influence and partnership with colonial powers should not be overlooked. 

Though, not only the social relationships with European powers can be considered a cause of outsider influence. Capitalism, the hegemonic political force, carries a byproduct known as the global economy (Drakakis-Smith, 1992, p. 17). This global economy, essentially, captures the economic trade (and therefore relationships) between countries. However, it also means that imperial powers compete for the ownership of capital worldwide, and nations are forced to strengthen their own economic power to maintain their national identity and equity (Drakakis-Smith, 1992, p. 17). Essentially this can be otherwise viewed as muscle building to maintain itself as a state instead of being dominated and therefore subsumed by other powers. Iran, as per Amanat, has tussled over the years with the competing proponents of maintaining Persia, while intimately intermingling with Islamic tradition and the infiltrating influences of global hegemony (Amanat & Vejdani, 2012, p. 24). 

How Space Informs Narrative

Jini Kim Watson’s (2011) analysis in The New Asian City provides a thesis that allows us to situate Ghadirian’s work in present-day Iran. In New Asian City, Watson (2011) makes the case that theories of space insinuate that “the role of fictional texts is simply to show the realities of urban spaces and characters through description, that is, the nonspatial literary form is the transparent presenter of material external realities” (p. 11). However, that space conditions narrative doesn’t have to solely be viewed from a literary lens; “...a more complex approach traces broader homologies between narrative form and urban environment… the essentials of modern urban experience have been taken up into narrative form along less descriptive lines” (Watson, 2011, p. 11). Watson leans on the work of Henri Lefebvre who theorizes that space can be viewed via a particular framework in his Production of Space. Lefebvre (1991) breaks space into 1) spatial practices, ie. physical space, urban reality; 2) representations of space, ie. space that is conceived by the dominating intellectuals and realized; and 3) representational space, ie. space that is perceived and experienced. This theory then dispels the dichotomy of “subject” and “object” and instead proposes space as relations between forms that produce social space (Watson, 2011, p. 12). 

Using Waton’s perspective that narrative is conditioned by relations of space, we can deduce that Shadi Ghadirian’s portrait series has a narrative of its own. Ghadirian having been born, raised, and working in Tehran, reflects her lived experience. The buildings and other forms of Tehran, the relations between them, no doubt produce the social space in which Ghadirian is situated. This does not mean that her work is only representative of Tehran, but it certainly reflects part of its urban reality. And if we look at the photos once more, we now understand that we are not only looking at clothed women wearing props against a painted backdrop. No, instead we are gazing upon different points in time–the introduction of Islam in Iran, a period dedicated to re-establishing Persian ties, and the competing imperial forces from around the world.

Tehran has been said, historically, to have been built around its population of Imamzadeh shrines–Islamic sites–and historically a point of many pilgrimages (Viki & Al-Harithy, 2019). In its urbanization over time, it has maintained its very religious core and formation (Viki & Al-Harithy, 2019). Interestingly, Tehran went from being a village to the capital of Iran under Qajar rule (Viki & Al-Harithy, 2019). It was during Qajar leadership that the focus was made to develop Tehran towards being a center of trade and expanding commercial areas (Viki & Al-Harithy, 2019). After the Qajar period, there was even a stronger push to develop Tehran under modern and national values (Viki & Al-Harithy, 2019). This produced a tension between traditional and Western values. Therefore, it seems only natural that the social space Ghadirian’s photos are reflecting displays a deep tension between national values, religious values, and competing outside forces that have all been influenced by the production of space over time.

What can be further said about the echoes of other cultures penetrating the invisible boundaries of Iran, is that the values that some of the props come to represent are in direct conflict with the other symbolic values adorned by these women. Meaning, a Pepsi can, surely most notably associated with the United States, along with the USA letterman jacket. In contrast, the United States is not an Islamic country and has often oriented itself in opposition to the East–ie. the Orient (Said, 1994)–touting its freedom of values. Why is this in opposition? Well, the very women holding the outsider props are associated with not being free to wear what they want. When I say free in this case, I mean, within the boundaries of Tehran, and further within the boundaries of Iran, they would not be allowed to wear what they wish. And we see traces of this in the contemporary political discourse regarding Iran and the political protests taking place currently. A 22-year-old woman was killed recently in Tehran for failing to comply with headdress rules (Strzyżyńska, 2022).

Our social spaces are that in which we live and experience every day. As Lefebvre (1991) has shown, we are shaped by the very social space we find ourselves in. Not only is Tehran an amalgamation of representational space that reflects values of Iran pre-and-post-Islamic adoption, but also of the hegemonic forces conditioning, molding, spatial practice, and its conceived future. The production of Tehran’s social space is a summation of competing forces; that which is distinctly Iranian, the outsider influence that is welcomed by positioning itself as a hub for commerce, and religious values. What all of this amounts to is the safe assumption that sure, Ghadirian’s work represents a conflict between tradition and modernity. However, this can be expanded to say Ghadirian is really reflecting a tension of identity in the hearts of those in Tehran, and surely across greater Iran.  Further, a tension of identities then, could only be presumed to grow over time as the world becomes more and more globalized, and thus borders becoming more and more blurry.

In summary, I have introduced Ghadirian’s Qajar series, providing context to the underlying components of the portraits. In so doing, I have summarised the Qajar period of Iran and its emphasis on national values as opposed to Iran’s Islamic influence and adoption. From there, I have referenced Jini Watson’s New Asian City to show how space informs narrative, and therefore the Islamic, Persian, and outsider buildings of Tehran must necessarily shape the work of Ghadirian. In so doing, I surmise that while yes Ghadirian’s work reflects a tension between tradition and modernity, it can also stand to tell a visual story about the on-going identity conflict those living in Tehran and surrounding Iran might experience.