Exploring the Other, Contemporary Iran through the lense of Iason Athanasiadis

This groundbreaking exhibition opens on January 25th and runs through March 29, 2009.

In January 2002, during the State of the Union address, President Bush included Iran in the unholy trinity of the " Axis of Evil", launching a calculated and extensive demonization of the country and its leaders. Painting your foe as different and "other" than oneself is the first phase of an effective campaign of confrontation.


Exploring the Other: Contemporary Iran through the Lens of Iason Athanasiadis challenges the conventional media narrative of Iran by offering rare and candid insight into this enigmatic country from the perspective of an embedded international journalist and photographer. By approaching Iran from aesthetic and social viewpoints, this groundbreaking and highly relevant exhibit takes the focus off Iran's politicians and realigns it squarely on the country and its people.

In 2004, internationally acclaimed journalist Iason Athanasiadis moved to Iran to attend Tehran's School of International Studies and gain a first-hand20account of the country. Fluent in Persian and part of Iran's largest demographic group—today 70% of Iran's population is under 30, Athanasiadis enjoyed unparalleled access to Iranian society. Through vivid and discerning photography, Athanasiadis reveals the complexity and subtleties of
Iran's character in breathtaking photos of the country's massive mountainous landscapes, daunting cityscapes,
mystic rituals, and influential religious and political practices, often illustrating the cultural chasm of tradition and
modernity in one of the youngest societies on earth.





Writer, photographer, and television producer, Iason Athanasiadis has been covering the Middle East, Central Asia, and the southeast Mediterranean since 1999. He earned degrees in Arabic and Modern Middle Eastern Studies at Oxford University (BA) and in Persian and Contemporary Iranian Studies at Tehran's School of International Studies (MA).

Athanasiadis lived in Iran from 2004–2007, covering conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Lebanon for the international media. He rep orted on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the 2004 Athens Olympics, and the 2006 Israeli-Hizbullah war in Lebanon. His photography has been featured in solo exhibitions in Germany, Greece, Iran, and the United States, and published in Der Spiegel and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications.

A native of Greece, Athanasiadis was a 2008 Nieman fellow at Harvard University. He is an Aristotle Onassis Foundation scholar and has lectured on contemporary Iran at Berkeley, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, and
other universities.

Please visit www.iason.ws for more information on this artist.


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