The Pain of Others: Framing War Photography in Iran

ABSTRACT

War photographs have remained essential to the propaganda machinery of the Iranian state since the inception of the war with Iraq. These photographs contribute to the visual culture of martyrdom and are celebrated within a dominant meaning-making regime. However, there are rare counter-narratives that unsettle the master narrative of the Iranian state and I turn to that of a war photographer whose work is side-lined by the state. I explore this counter-narrative to discover the workings of the state-sanctioned narrative through modes of reception of the photographs by Iranians both inside and outside Iran. I strive to trace the reception of the pain of others through politics of frame and the ethnography of the visual culture of martyrdom after almost three decades since the war.

KEYWORDS:

• War photography
• framing
• pain
• martyrdom
• visual reception
• counter-narrative

Acknowledgments

This article is the expression of my admiration for non-combatants of the Iran–Iraq war who were affected by Chemical Weapon bombardment and still carry the pain of the eight-year war. Also, many thanks for the patience and suggestions of Dr Freek Colombijn, Dr Ton Salman, two anonymous reviewers and Academic Freedom Initiative of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam that supported my research generously.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Younes Saramifar http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8553-4463

Notes

1. http://www.wisgoon.com/pin/6773035/ (accessed 13 January 2017).

2. All the captions below the figures are the author’s.

3. This usually falls in mid-March until the first half of April, according to the Gregorian calendar.

4. https://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/01/14/us-sailors-mistakenly-steered-into-iranian-waters/78796140/ (accessed 13 January 2017).

5. http://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1394/07/13/877777 (accessed 17 August 2016, emphasis added).

6. I often translate the statements that Mon’em prepares for his exhibitions as a way to express my gratitude for his permission to use his photographs in my articles.

7. http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920613000306 (accessed 17 August 2016).

8. http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920613000306 (accessed 17 August 2016).

9. http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920613000306 (accessed 17 August 2016).

10. http://monem.akkasee.com/20171/plist/33 (accessed 17 August 2016).

11. http://monem.akkasee.com/20100/plist/48 (accessed 17 August 2016).

12. http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920613000306 (accessed 17 August 2016).

13. http://www.siasatrooz.ir/vdcg7y9t.ak9qn4prra.html (accessed 17 August 2016).

14. http://monem.akkasee.com/20241/plist/21 (accessed 25 October 2017).

15. http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920613000306 (accessed 17 August 2016).

16. Valmara 69, an Italian anti-personnel landmine, was used frequently in the Iran–Iraq war. This lethal mine is placed in a web and connected with wires to other mines. Triggering one of them causes the rest of the connected mines to explode and creates many more casualties than an average SB-33 mine. For further information see Hidden Death: Land Mines and Civilian Casualties in Iraqi Kurdistan, a Landmine Monitor Report 1999: Toward a Mine-free World, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pdghyf-ZUs.

17. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sepehri-sohrab (accessed 25 October 2017).