Shade Of Earth by Abbas Kowsari (December 26, 2009) 
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Introduction by Fariba Farshad
Like the photographers presented here yesterday and the day before, Sadegh Tirafkan and Ramin Haerizadeh, Abbas Kowsari is driven by history and a sense of tradition. His works from the Shades of Earth series are what Shakespeare’s Polonius might have called ‘dramas tragical -historical.’ In Kowsari’s case his subject is less rooted, much more recent and less personal than for Tidafkan and Haerizadeh and so he has removed himself from the action and is instead a dispassionate observer. His stage is a strip of desert that was the frontline of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). His actors are the hundreds of thousands of Iranians who make a pilgrimage on each New Year’s (Noruz) holiday to visit the places where the fighting was the heaviest and where their family members fell. This trip is called 'Rahian-e Noor' or Caravan of Light.
Read Fariba Farshad's general introduction on her week of Iranian photographers here.
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Abbas Kowsari has worked for over ten leading Iranian newspapers, many of which have now been banned from publishing, and was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet 2009 for his series Shade of Earth. He currently works as the senior photo editor for E'temad newspaper in Tehran. Kowsari’s various positions as photo editor has meant that he has worked with and has access to important newsmakers in Iran. His work with independent film-makers as a cameraman, as well as his work with Iranian photo-artists gives him an unmatched ability to switch between news, documentary and art. He is uniquely versed in the news and cultural issues that matter within Iran today.
In his Shade of Earth series, Kowsari captures the annual pilgrimage that many Iranians make to the Iran–Iraq war frontline. During the war (1980–1988), Iran lost over half a million soldiers and so each year hundreds of thousands of Iranians travel to the fronts to remember the family members they lost. This trip is called ‘Rahian-e Noor’, or Caravan of Light, and is made in during ‘Noruz’, the Iranian New Year holiday in the last week of March. The former battle grounds become a theatre of grief for the mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, wives, friends and families who take the long journey to remember.
Kowsari’s moving photographs of the pilgrims contemplating their loss, and the ceremonial processions of flag bearers amongst the barren wasteland of the former warzone, speak volumes about the impact of war on those left behind. The remains of tanks and artillery buried in the desert juxtapose with the vitality of the pilgrims in their grief.
Abbas Kowsari (1970) lives and works in Tehran, Iran.
Click weblink abbaskowsari.com or browse our archives
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