Tehran, the capital of Iran, can be considered a metropolis in the truest sense of the word. However, the city is marred by irregular buildings and tall, tower-like structures that resemble gravestones. It is an overcrowded place, where the air is polluted by the constant noise and gray smoke. Despite this, some areas of the Shemiran, which is one of the three main parts of Tehran, remain relatively untouched and shrouded in mystery. It is a unique piece of the city that offers tranquility to those who seek it.
During the mid-2000s, I was a cinema enthusiast who had to practice taking analog photos. I decided to photograph an old European-style house in a garden near our home, which was a remnant of modernism arriving in Iran in the early 1900s. Approximately decade later, I revisited the same street (we had already moved away), and to my surprise, the garden, the trees, and the European house were gone. In their place were towering, luxurious, and intimidating buildings that represented capitalism’s legacy in Iran. This made me back down to the past and look for such architecture, Houses with gable roofs, abandoned pools, trees, and …
in this body of work, I have approached where I spent my teenage. I delve into the time and a past era somewhere I always think of. this is a chronicle of the feeling of belonging to the land, where my memories have roots, the dreams and wishes that I had and lost in a time, a timeless place.