From Iran: A Visual Testimony

By Elin Spring and Suzanne Révy

“The word is about, there’s something evolving,
Whatever may come, the world keeps revolving…
They say the next big thing is here,
That the revolution’s near,

But to me it seems quite clear
That’s it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.”

~ Shirley Bassey & The Propellerheads

Why stage photographic scenes of conflicts from the past? Particularly the triumphs, treachery and eras of unrest that were not visually documented when they occurred? Azadeh Akhlaghi’s “From Iran: A Visual Testimony” venerates Iranian citizens who were entrenched in eleven decisive political incidents in her homeland during the twentieth century. Employing cinematic spectacle and intellectual rigor, Akhlaghi’s engrossing tableau-style scenarios bring heroes from the past into the present. With sweeping images that are telling in their detail and piercing in their drama, this awe-inspiring exhibit is on view at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Cambridge, MA through March 21^st, 2027. 

In a 2014 interview regarding her previous project, “By A Witness,” Akhlaghi describes the motivation behind her approach: “We read about our historical heroes in books and sometimes come across their vague images in black- and-white photos or in fast-moving, unfocused film footage. But in all of those representations, they still belong to the past and are bound to remain so. There is a gap between us, a silence that is hard to break, because we consider them part of history. This is the reason that an often unspoken sorrow, which we all hold in silence, allows us to make a connection to them. I mean to make them as vivid as possible, to bring them into the present and turn them into an integral part of our lives today.” 

While laudatory in their origin, Akhlaghi herself refers to the circumstances she depicts in “A Visual Testimony” as “the vicious cycle.” The project includes sixteen images that she created over the course of fourteen years: three are presented in the gallery as large-scale prints and each of the sixteen is projected onto a nearby screen in chronological sequence, first in its totality, and then slowly scrolled left to right to reveal closeup details within the tableau. 

Like its psychological impact on the history of Iran, the scale of each image is monumental. Most are enacted at their actual historic site. The depiction of each event is as mesmerizing by the inch as it is by the foot, creating a sense of both immediacy and broad perspective. Portions of Akhlaghi’s exhaustive background research are presented on an interactive screen that allows viewers to learn the stories of pictured individuals or to see how particular scenes were created.

While Akhlaghi’s scenarios do not follow a linear narrative, her images of conflict are deliberately accompanied by mundane daily activities like fruit sellers at their stands and children playing in the street. In doing so, she attests to the reality of daily life persisting in the midst of seismic change. Her signature use of infinite focus works to equalize the importance of each grouping and encompass the full range of experiences during each episode.

Born and raised in Iran, but educated in Australia, Akhlaghi liberally references western culture. “I have always admired the great painters of the west and have tried to study and understand them. I have also followed the work of some of the great staged photographers, such as Jeff Wall, Luc Delahaye, Andreas Gursky and Wang Qingsong. However, the narrative techniques in my images are mostly borrowed from my engagement with cinema and literature. I admire the cinema of Fellini and Antonioni and also the many masterpieces of the Russian and French writers of the nineteenth century.” One snowy scene recalls Bruegel’s narrative paintings; surprising and shocking details bring Hieronymous Bosch to mind, and in one harrowing prison scene, she evokes the Pietá. Weaving these events through a lens of art history, literature, and film invites viewers from disparate traditions to interact with each piece as they ponder the layered and complex history of 20th century Iran.

In its entirety, Akhlaghi’s “Visual Testimony” sequence highlights the cycle of successful and failed efforts by Iranians to reclaim control of their country between 1908—when the Shah quashed the first National Assembly—and 1979, when the monarchy was overthrown and Islamic rule began. In light of the current war with Iran, this exhibit is sorrowfully relevant. It inadvertently emphasizes how the vicious cycles of conflict in Iran and across the globe show no sign of ceasing. If viewed from the moon, Akhlaghi’s “Visual Testimony” may be “a little bit of history repeating” but she makes these turbulent Iranian inflection points spectacular in every sense of the word. 

For more information about this exhibit, go to: https://peabody.harvard.edu/iran-visual-testimony