In Iran, almost half of the population is under 30 years old. Born in 1989, photographer Forough Alaei is not much older and shares the same aspirations as this generation. “I feel close to her because I find memories of my adolescence there and also all my shattered dreams. » These Iranians, who have known neither the 1979 revolution nor the war against Iraq, have become the central theme of his work for four years. A youth today on the front line of the social protest born after the death of Mahsa Amini.
Forough Alaei’s photos prove that Generation Z in Iran is not very different from the one we know in the West: ultra-connected, not very sensitive to political ideologies, resistant to religious or family traditions, loving freedom. “Most young people are pragmatists who aspire to modernity and live in urban areas, observes the photographer based in Tehran, tired of the dark image that the media often convey of her country. They can’t stand boys and girls being separated, they like to party and dance together, ski, listen to rock, drink and be fashionable, like Western youth. » His images are indeed surprising in the way of life they describe: friends meeting in the garden of a suburban house, walks on the beach with a small dog on a leash – an animal traditionally frowned upon in the Islam and in Iran, but that the new generations acclaim.
“There is a lot of talk about the institutional oppression of women in conservative countries like Iran, but there is also the absence of female role models which hurts young girls a lot. » Forough Alaei
It is above all the women who command admiration, with their determination to lead their lives as they see fit, even if it means defying taboos. Like the young Zeinab, a football fan, who travels fifteen hours by train to attend a match in Tehran and slips into the stands disguised as a boy, with a fake beard and bandaged breasts. Or Parva, an artist who paints women and nudes, which she must partly cover when she exhibits in a gallery. Or even Maryam, an animal rights activist and professional motorcyclist, who after a long struggle has managed to make motorcycling a sport authorized for girls – even though the latter are not allowed to drive one on the street.
“There is a lot of talk about the institutional oppression of women in conservative countries like Iran, but there is also the absence of female role models which hurts young girls a lot,” notes Forough Alaei. In her photos, the veil, although compulsory, is rather rare: “Women tended to take it off in semi-private spaces, she explains. Since the events, more and more of them no longer wear it in public and go to work bareheaded, without being worried. I was able to photograph them with no problem. »
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