An Iranian woman walks through a haze of smoke caused by the burning of the herb esfand. According to popular belief, this ritual drives away the evil eye.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIME
At Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the government office in charge of accrediting foreign reporters, there is a particular enthusiasm for first-timers.
A journalist who has never actually visited Iran before tends to be wowed by the experience. “It’s not like I expected,” they say, a sentiment that naturally is reflected in their dispatches.
On my 11th visit I thought I was beyond that sort of thing. Then I took my first trip on Tehran’s subway. It was like visiting Scandinavia: sleek, quiet, and boring in a reassuring way, a world away from the capital’s cityscape. Both things are true, of course: The gritty streets familiar from Argo, and the network of brightly lit tunnels that undermine every assumption about the Iran.
It’s not contradiction so much as counterpoint, and Newsha Tavakolian manages to do the same thing with her camera. She has worked as a photojournalist and as an artist, and you need to be both to capture the subtle dynamics in her home country right now. At the very moment that the Islamic Republic has made a deal on its nuclear program with the U.S. and other world powers, it has also struck a bargain with its own people: Leave politics entirely to us, and you’ll be left alone to live your lives more or less as you wish.
Photograph by Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIME
It’s a trade-off most Iranians appear to be fine with for now, especially when other states in the region have descended into chaos following popular uprisings. But it’s not as though the people are holding still. As the sanctions come off and the world prepares to beat a path to their door, ordinary Iranians are eager to come out of the shadow of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and meet them, finally proceeding with lives that strike a Western visitor as both familiar, and like no where else.
Newsha Tavakolianis an Iranian freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Iran. She is a nominee member of Magnum Photos. Her work focuses mostly on women’s issues.
Alice Gabriner, who edited this photo essay, is TIME’s International Photo Editor.
Karl Vick is a TIME correspondent based in New York. From 2010 to the autumn of 2014, he was the Jerusalem Bureau Chief.
An Iranian woman walks through a haze of smoke caused by the burning of the herb esfand. According to popular belief, this ritual drives away the evil eye.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEIranian paramilitary Baseej forces reenact the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) in the south of Tehran.From "See Iran Coming Out of the Shadows"Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEIranian paramilitary Baseej forces participate in a reenactment of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) in the south of Tehran.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA portrait of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, looms over an empty parking lot in Tehran.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA memorial for female martyrs who died during the revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war at a park in Tehran.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIME Men dance at a wedding in an illegal - but tolerated - wedding hall in Karaj, a satellite town of the capital. Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEIranian women light candles to commemorate the death of the revered Shiite martyr, Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.
His violent death on the plains of Kerbala, Iraq, is remembered during the mourning period known as Ashura.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA young man sits in a car next to his mother in Tehran, where the use of headsets and mobile phones is widespread.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA young couple stand in front of the shrine Imāmzādeh Sāleh, located in Tehran's most northern square, Tajrish, in the Shemiran district.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA young Iranian girl with her family visits an amusement park beside the new artificial lake dubbed Persian Gulf of Martyrs on Tehran’s west side.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEArash Fayazi swims in the pool of the Royal Oxygen Sports Club. Fazeli is a body building champion and regularly exercises at the pool.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEFashion designer Salar Bil is surrounded by his models on a Friday night before his show. Bil is one of the upcoming young designers in Tehran. As the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has recently allowed fashion shows, Bil, like other designers, is seizing the opportunity.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMESahar Khalkhalian, a painter, finishes her artwork days before her solo exhibition opens at the Shirin Art Gallery, that also has a space in New York City. Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEView of a Tehran street. Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEIranian women beat their chests as they listen to a female religious chanter, in a makeshift tent in western Tehran.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEIranian women listen to a religious speech in a mosque.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA man sleeps on a bench in Tehran's domestic Mehrabad airport. Following the nuclear agreement, Iran hopes to upgrade its fleet of aging aircraft. Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEView of the Shahrak-e Gharb neighborhood, in the modern Tehran west side.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMETwo men and a boy stand next to a fire at a construction site in Tehran, where there is a rise in new construction.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIMEA boy visits Tehran's southern Baharestan Square with his family, where a missile is displayed as part of the "Sacred Defense Week," a period commemorating the Iran-Iraq War.Newsha Tavakolian—Magnum for TIME
