British Journal of Photography: Iran “is such a complex place that people will, of course, tell you not to go there”. In the first chapter of an ongoing body of work, the Melbourne-based photographer challenges the “narrow and misleading” ways in which the Middle Eastern country is often portrayed

In 2016, Melbourne-based photographer Sarah Pannell spent a month couch surfing her way across Iran. Travelling from the capital, Tehran, north to Qazvin and west to Tabriz, south to Isfahan and Shiraz, and then east to Kerman and Yazd, Pannell stayed with a total of 15 families who welcomed her into their homes. “I wanted to investigate the deeply positive things that I had heard about hospitality in Iran – as a foreigner being welcomed in, and, whether that was true or not,” explained Pannell, when BJP-online interviewed her in light of her new photo book, Tabriz to Shiraz, which launches with an exhibition at Hillvale Gallery in Melbourne.

The level of hospitality that Pannell experienced was unlike anything she had before and allowed her to experience the country in a very different way than if she had been exploring alone. Rather than producing a simple travelogue taken purely from an outside and subjective perspective, Pannell was able to go deeper. Her observations were led by the friends that she made; the resulting pictures reflect that experience. “It is a very personal body of work,” she continues, “it is as much a reflection of myself as it is a reflection of them”. From an assortment of parks and cafes to the varied interiors of peoples’ homes, Pannell’s images frame what could be mundane, everyday scenes and spaces in unusual and unexpected ways.

Pannell first became interested in Iran while studying International Relations, with a major in Middle Eastern History and Politics, at university. “There was one particular class where I had to do an assignment on the Iranian revolution,” she remembers, “that was about 10 to 12 years ago now. I have remained interested in the region ever since.” A few years later, while studying photojournalism in the US, Pannell met a group of people from Iran. Hearing about the challenging decisions they had made to move away from their families, rekindled her interest in the region.

“It is such a complex place that people will, of course, tell you not to go there – especially a decade ago,” says Pannell. This, however, proved a motivating factor for Pannell’s trip. In the West, many people’s perceptions of Iran remain coloured by the events of 1979, and the instability and unrest that followed. The 1979 Iranian revolution (of which it is the 40th anniversary this year), driven by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, toppled the US-backed leadership of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Khomeini established an Islamic republic and worked to eliminate the westernisation of the country permitted by his predecessors >>>