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After the war with Iraq ended, Iranian prisoners returned home. Their families had been totally unaware of their whereabouts during the conflict. Photographer Sasan Moayyedi created a scene with a soldier’s clunky blood stained boots alongside a dressy pair of women’s shoes. There is a combat knife at the clean and neat home dining table – war has become a part of everyday life.

These images are on display in the French town of Arles along with hundreds of others from more than 60 photographers from Iran. The exhibition is a part of the famous annual Les Rencontres d’Arles festival, taking place in the south of France since the 1970s. This presentation of Iranian modern photographers’ work is called Iran, Year 38 and aims to show Iran as it is now, 38 years after the Islamic revolution.

“For centuries Iran has been known for its poetry, a way to say things that cannot be said directly. The modern version of poetry is photography, a visual poetry. It is not a coincidence that Iran has so many photographers”- the curators of the exhibition, Anahita Ghabaian Etehadieh and Newsha Tavakolian, say.

Revolution and war prompted questions about the identity of Iranian society. It’s a thousand-year-old civilisation that most recently has put on the shape of the Islamic Republic, with a stress on the religious dimension of Iran’s legacy. The sanctions and isolation the revolution provoked have also played a role. But now lifestyles are changing, exhibition contributors say. Young Iranians face a choice: follow tradition or adopt modernity.

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