Ahvaz, Iran. Female members of the ancient Sabaean Mandean religious sect perform a ritual cleansing during an annual baptism held on the banks of the Karoun River. Water is everything to the Sabaean Mandeans who are baptized in it, get married in it, and receive their last rites by the river's edge.

Maker Fatemi, Hossein Iranian, b. 1980

Date2013

MediumInkjet print

Dimensionsoverall: 16 1/8 in x 24 1/4 in

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number2016:75

About the ArtistSince 1997, Chicago-based photojournalist Hossein Fatemi has traveled throughout the Middle East, covering global social issues and current affairs. His series An Iranian Journey documents the daily life of youth in Fatemi’s homeland of Iran, presenting an alternative picture of a country that has been demonized, sanctioned, and isolated for decades by the West.

An Iranian Journey dispels clichés and stereotypes, revealing the pronounced divide between public and private spheres in contemporary Iran. The Islamic government’s vision of society is manifestly at odds with the lived realities of its secular majority of citizens, especially women. Daily, millions of young women engage in activities that are officially illegal in the Islamic Republic, shrugging off the paternalistic laws of the Mullahs. Fatemi has documented the complexities of contemporary Iranian society from the inside, photographing hundreds of individuals who allow him into their private lives, where religious legislation and custom hold little sway.

Hossein Fatemi is a photojournalist who has been published in The Sunday Times Magazine, Newsweek, Time, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian and The Washington Post, among others. He is based in New York.