Abbas Kowsari

/ Abbas Kowsari (Iran, 1970) has

worked as press photographer and photo

editor for more than a dozen Iranian newspapers,

most of which have since been silenced

by the government. In recent years,

apart from a few exhibitions in Iran, he has

mainly exhibited in Europe and the United

States. Earlier in his career Kowsari also

worked as a cameraman for filmmakers,

and this undoubtedly contributed to his

affinity for art, journalism and the making

of documentaries. His photos have also

been published outside Iran, among other

places in The New York Times, TIME and Der

Spiegel.

In Shade of Earth (2008) it is not the violence

of the Iran-Iraq War (’80-’88) that we

see, but its long-term effects. Every year,

hundreds of thousands of Iranians travel

to the former fronts, where half a million of

their compatriots lost their lives. Mourners

wander around the vast empty plain to

commemorate their fallen relatives.

Sometimes for a moment they rest next to

the rusty wreckage of the tools of war. The

huge numbers of people who make this

yearly pilgrimage prove that for many of

them this terrible past is far from over. The

name of their pilgrimage speaks volumes:

‘Rahian-e Noor’ or Caravan of Light. In all

tranquillity and with great poetry, Kowsari

underlines how long a war can reverberate.

For Shade of Earth, Kowsari was shortlisted

for the prix Pictet 2009.