Over the last decade, one question always intrigued me about my country of birth, Turkey.
"Are we going to become the next Iran?"
Not accepting cliches at face value, I decided to investigate the country we were in grave danger of transforming into.
On my first trip to Tehran, just after Valentine's Day, I was detained by menacing-looking officials while photographing women at a metro station. I had made a grand entrance indeed. The cliches must have been true. I was in trouble. Then, the moment came which launched my five-year-long commitment into a documentary project.
Before bursting into laughter, one of the officials uttered in broken Turkish, "Seni seviyorum sensiz nefes alamam", which translates to "I love you, I can not breathe without you." Apparently, after the propagation of Turkish TV series, it was Iran that was in danger of transforming into Turkey! Damn, they had fooled me properly.
Seven years of boarding school wits and photography street smarts had not prepared me for this Iranian prank attack. Released lovingly and taking my tail between my legs, I walked back to the scene of the crime, plotting my revenge while grinning metro passengers looked on in amusement. From 2014 to 2019, I focused my camera on Iran's greatest potential, modern Iranian women.
As a Turkish photographer and outsider, I was fortunate to be afforded the time and space by Iranian women, who often saw me as an outlet to tell their story. Yet, I was also perceived as an insider. Turkey, and Istanbul in particular, have been a popular destination for freedom-seeking Iranians who also felt at home in Istanbul due to its similar social and cultural surroundings. Given insider access, I photographed women snowboarding in Dizin, bungee jumping into the Armand River, drinking and smoking in the desert among friends, and posing with Iranian Santa Claus on Christmas day.
The question of intrigue now became, "When will women take control in Iran?"
Dena Gallery shared this optimism when I opened my solo exhibition, "Here the women laugh out loud" in Tehran in November 2019. At the opening, a young woman whispered, “Thank you for showing us as we are,” a statement of phobia in fine art photography circles, but a show of ultimate respect for me. Yet, her statement was less about me and more about the dignity Iranian women have been trying to wrestle back from the oppressive regime.
In September 2022, the oppression reached its climax with the suspicious death of 22-year-old Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, after being detained by authorities for not wearing her hijab properly. In Iran and all around the world, men and women protested together, as a reaction to Mahsa Amini’s death and to the oppression of Iranian women in general. So far, they have not obtained the rights they deserve, yet these types of sparks are often a catalyst for societal transformations, and Iranian women may just be at the cusp of a major transformation.
Photos & writing by Pro Member Tamer Tamar
Editing by Mei Seva & Jorge Delgado-Ureña
Support Tamer Tamar’s story proposal for Issue 3 of The Raw Society Magazine!
Un-Swiss: Not Quite Like Clockwork
We live in a time of prejudice. Not only do we judge each other before we meet, we form preconceived ideas about countries before we even set a foot inside their borders. Switzerland is one such country associated with wealth, neutrality, precision, rules and a stoic demeanor. Yet, living as a foreigner in the country reveals peculiar mannerisms and quirks that defy stereotypes. My goal as an insider-outsider in Switzerland is to highlight “exceptions to the rule”. Maybe the Swiss are not so Swiss after all?
Why is this story worthwhile?
Thanks to social media, most vital issues these days are discussed and dissected at a global level. Ideally, these discussions would leave out “identity politics” and rather focus on the content of arguments. Unfortunately, most discussions revolve around people’s origins and the cliches that go with them. Typically, these cliches are attached to ethnicity and nationality. Switzerland is no different than any other country, when it comes to being the target of long-standing stereotypes. By challenging negative and positive stereotypes about nationalities, we can redirect the central point of global discussions to the actual content that matters. It is time to shatter these cliches.