Eleventh International Conference on The Image

Abstract

The paper investigates the role of photography in socio-political developments in decades preceding the 1979 revolution. In other words, the study tries to show how the political battle over power found a reflection on debates over the notion and the practice of photography. As the founder of Pahlavi dynasty, Reza Shah’s coming to power accelerated the formation of political discourse. The political discourses in Pahlavi era could be divided into four main categories namely Nationalism, Leftism, Pahlavism and Islamism. Meanwhile, the rising middle-class along with the imperatives of a modern state including a systematic way for identifying citizens brought photography to the spotlight. Excluding the Islamists, all other three political discourses had their own version of image in representing the social realities. Trying to depict Iran as a progressive, modern country, the Pahlavism utilized photography to promote western ideals, pre-Islamic icons, while showing no sign of poverty and equality. The approach could be named as Idealist realism. On the contrary, the Marxist-inspired Leftists tried to highlight social inequalities and sufferings as a way of agitating the masses in their path towards revolution. The social documentary proved to be the proper approach. Highlighting Irano-Islamic values, the nationalist-inspired photography mostly dealt with Iran’s history, culture and costumes. Documentary photography turned out to work well for the purpose. Due to the shared idea of revolution promoted by both leftists and shi’as, social documentary happened to be the right approach for the Islamic political discourse.