Courtesy of Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH & Co. KG

If complacency generates mediocre art, the works in Iranian Photography Now don’t have the luxury of this problem. Showcasing the work of thirty-six photographers — some already well known and some still emerging — the styles in this volume run the full spectrum from journalistic to fine art. There’s an urgency on these pages, where tradition and modernity go head
to head.
     For instance Mehraneh Atashi’s series takes a glimpse inside a traditional zourkhaneh, which literally means “house of strength”, a kind of spiritual gym for men that combines physical exercise, religious chants, and recitations from epic literature. Atashi manages to play with the mirrors in the space, so her own image appears alongside them. Amirali Ghasemi’s documentary series, Tehran Remixed, is a journey into the city’s underground life. His images capture young people drinking, smoking, dancing, and flirting like they do all around the world. However in this case their faces have been whitened out to protect their identities; their actions might be deemed inappropriate by the authorities.