People throughout the Middle East region and the world have a lot of misconceptions about Iran. Something that few people know about, even within Iran, is a unique subculture inside the nation: the Hormozgan province in South Iran, which is home to the descendants of African traders and slaves.
One photographer, German-born Iranian Mahdi Ehsaei, set out to shed some light on this often-unnoticed segment of Iran's population. His photographs reveal the uniquely African, yet still Persian culture of these people.
StepFeed caught up with Ehsaei to find out how this project caught his attention.
How did you decide to embark on this Afro-Iranian portraits project? What sparked your interest in documenting this relatively unknown subculture?
From the start of the project I knew that I wanted to show new faces of Iran. As I see it, Iran is an underestimated and underrated country in mainstream media. I was thinking of how to fill one of the gaps of Iran's unknown facts with the help of art and photography. My intention was to reveal new facets and unfamiliar faces, which are not typical for the common picture of Iran and also show the confrontation between the Persian culture and the, for Iran, unusual African consciousness.
There are two main points I can think of where I got to know that there are Iranians of African descent living in Iran. On the one hand there is the Iranian New Year‚ Nowruz, where people get entertained by a red-robed herald named‚ Haji Firuz. He brings a smile to the faces and amuses the celebrating people with good wishes and vibes for the coming year. It is addressed to his master, whom he encourages to remain hopeful and happy. The main characteristic that makes him one of the most famous Iranian figures is his blackened face. This figure symbolizes the beginning of the new year. Some sources state that the happiness of Haji Firuz is based on the termination of slavery in Iran [in] 1928.
On the other hand, there is the first time I saw an Afro-Iranian man. It was some years ago when we were on summer vacation in Iran with my family and some friends. We went to watch a football match in the Hafeziyeh Stadium in Shiraz, where my father comes from. It was the match between Bargh Shiraz FC and Aluminium Hormozgan FC. I was there with my uncle, brother, a German friend of his, and a good friend of mine. For the first time I saw a black Iranian man, who happened to be the fan leader of the opposite team from Hormozgan. I was quickly [interested in] the way the opposite fans joyfully and rhythmically chanted for their team.
So I started to capture that moment, since I never was familiar with these beats and accent. The confrontation with the term African-Iranians and the subsequent closer look surprised me a lot. It let me get to know another and fascinating picture of the Iranian culture, which I wanted to pass on with my photographic work.
How do you think the Afro-Iranians fit into the broader Iranian society? Do they experience racism/prejudice or are they generally accepted?
Since the domination of the Portuguese over the Persian Gulf region in the 16th century for more than 100 years, a lot of Africans were enslaved and brought to Iran. Most of the enslaved people and a minority of African traders stayed in southern parts of Iran and made Iran their home even after their freedom and the termination of slavery in 1928. Ever since Afro-Iranians were fully integrated and accepted by the Iranian society. I can say that the Afro-Iranians not only fit into the Iranian society but they have even formed the culture in southern parts of the country. Iran has a culturally diverse population, and in the two months I spent in the Hormozgan Province, I didn’t see any kind of discrimination, whereas I think you experience these kind of behaviors in Europe more often.
When working on this project, how much time did you spend photographing? Did you interact a lot directly with the subjects as well? If so, what did they think about the project?
I spent almost two months in the Hormozgan Province. In the first days and weeks I was planing my journey and slowly getting to know the living structures of the places I lived. Some of the people I wanted to portray were concerned what the aim of my project was and why I wanted to photograph that very person. When I got the chance and the time to get into a conversation with the subjects, their view changed. I explained the background of my project, my intentions, and where I came from. After that, the majority was pleasantly surprised to meet someone from Germany who is interested in their community and who wants to portray them with such an unexpected motivation and enthusiasm. In general my successful approach was based on trust, which I had to establish first.
What do you hope viewers of your images take away from the series?
The aim of my project is to give viewers an insight into versatile memories and experiences I made in the Afro-Iranian community. When I look at all the feedback I got in just one week, I can say that my hope and goal has turned into a fact by itself through my photographic work. At least I have been able to introduce the – maybe never before known – Afro-Iranians to them. I want to reach a wider audience with my next project, which is the publication of the Afro-Iran book by [publisher] Kehrer Verlag in Germany in 2015. The publisher is highly regarded in the field of fine art photography publishing. They will help to promote the book around the world. I am very excited about the book, since I got enormous demand and feedback in the past few days. Now, you are able to get on the pre-order list for purchasing the Afro-Iran book [at this link ]. Then you’ll be notified about the exact release date and how to order the book.
What kind of feedback have you been receiving on the project, from both Iranians and others?
The feedback I got on the project has been huge, since it suddenly became viral on the Internet. I didn’t expect it like this and couldn’t anticipate how the receiving feedback would look like. I was positively shocked by the emails and inquiries I got and how many interested people were actually appreciating my work. I’ve been invited to different parts of the world to display my photographic series. I also got a lot of emails with just very kind words and letters of appreciation. And also a lot of inquiries from various media, universities and questions on how to buy the book. I can say that I fully accomplished the goal I had set in the very first moment I decided to start working on this idea, by far.