Burnt Generation - Iranian Photography

Burnt Generation
Research and Text by Grazyna Siedlecka
Corrections by Ciara O'Halloran

"Burnt Generation" – this is the name given to the show that ran between 10th of April and 1st of June in Somerset House in London.  This is also the name of the generation of Iranians encompassing those born between 1963 and 1980. In Iran they are known as Nasl-e-Sokhte. Before the 1979 Iraq-Iran war, which was also known as the First Persian Gulf War, their parents mostly belonged to the major part of the society of this time – the middle class. Children have been taught the beautiful principles: the value of high education, hard work and morality. Following them, they were supposed to earn a glorious future in welfare and peace. Nobody could predict the revolution, which brought with it death and darkness.

Babak Kazemi, Khoramshahr number by number.


The memory of the war, apart from the loneliness and isolation, is one of the main themes appearing in the contemporary Iranian art exhibited abroad. The new generation tries to deal with the reality, converting everyday experiences into touching photographic images. Although artists are not allowed to speak directly and loud about things that hurt, this factor doesn't prevent them from creating appealing documentation of everyday life and issues such as family, identity, tradition, gender, fears, memory. This is not the first case in the world's history which proves that the outer restrictions can release a vast creative power, which subtlety conveys the hidden messages and emotions rather then destroy the freedom of mind. That's probably one of the main reasons why the contemporary Iranian photography is so unique, intriguing, multidimensional and multilayered, often playful and experimental in form. Artists, the present research refers to, seek the new ways of using the language of photography and we are now witnesses of their great success in these uneasy explorations.
Babak Kazemi, Khoramshahr number by number.

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