Pedestrian

Early days of the revolution. The woman who is painting scenes of the revolution on the wall … does she know of the walls that will be drawn around her in the days to come?

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In 1999 I was the photo editor of the reformist paper, Khordaad. A while after the 18 Tir [July 9th, 1999] attacks, when militias had raided the University of Tehran dormitories and brutalized the students, an old man came to see me. I didn’t know him, and he didn’t know me. He had only seen my name in the footnotes of the photos we were printing in the newspaper those days. He took out a big envelope from his briefcase and gave it to me. He said: “as much as I thought about it, there’s no one better to give this to but you.”

I was both confused and curios to see what was in that envelope.

He opened the package. Inside, there were nearly 20 big black and white photos. My eyes lit up. A few were photos of the bodies of the Shah’s faithful militarymen, you could clearly see the bullets in their bodies. A few others were of the demonstrations before the revolution, another photo was a picture of the late Ayatollah Taleqani with a cigarette in his hand, another of cleric Ghaffari leading people on top of a minibus.

The photos were all originals. I didn’t ask where they had come from. He too didn’t seem keen to tell me, and he didn’t say anything. After we chatted for a while and had tea, he said: “I want these photos to stay with you. Use them as you want.” And he left, just like that, without giving a name or contact information.

The memory I just wrote about, is a piece of the history of the revolution’s photos. A history which now, 31 years after the revolution, has still not been gathered together in one comprehensive whole. Documented photos of the greatest event in our modern history are still in the hands of numerous people, individual photographers, ordinary folks and foreign photojournalists. In government, there is no will to gather them all and publish them, and we don’t expect things to change anytime soon.

The story of the photographers of the revolution is no different than the stories of the photos. Some, after experiencing the brutal crackdowns, left for countries abroad. Some of those photographers have enjoyed notable success, like Abbas Attar or Reza Deghati who is pursuing his passion not in his country, but a neighboring country, Afghanistan.

A few of those photographers stayed behind in their country, stood up for what they believed in, continued working and endured many dangers. Men like Bahman Jalali, Kaveh Golestan and Kaveh Kazemi.

I remember Bahman Jalali teaching photography in our university classes, and he would compare the publication of the revolution’s photos to a suitcase the contents of which would be taken out every 22 Bahman, examined, and then put back in the closet for another year.

It seems that the publication of these photos has become forbidden. A few years after the revolution, a small number of books were published, and those were never republished either. The sword of the censors has always been hovering over these books. They don’t want anyone to see what actually took place during the revolution, they don’t want anyone to know that the victory of the revolution lies on the shoulders of many groups, factions and people who are now neither heard of nor spoke of.

If you look at the photos that were published inside Iran, the logos and signs of various groups were always taken out. In the photos that young Iranian kids look at today, women without veils are never seen. Looking at what they publish nowadays, you’d never know that in this country, veiling used to be a choice.

In the famous photo where Ayatollah Khomeini is stepping down the Air France flight with his closest allies, Sadeq Ghotbzadeh can be seen, who was the first head of IRIB [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting], and who was executed shortly after the revolution. Cleric Lahouti who is also in the photo passed away in very peculiar circumstance. Dr. Yazdi, the first foreign secretary of the revolution is now in jail. Dr. Banisadr, the first president of the country had to flee. Sadeq Tabatabaie who is the brother-in-law of Ahmad, Khomeini’s son, is sitting at home. In the years after the revolution, they’ve cut out the people in this photo one by one. To a point where in recent years, only the ayatollah, his son, and the Air France pilot can be seen.

Today though, with the internet, censorship does not have the meaning it used to have. We can have a look through the photos of famous agencies, like Corbis, Gettys, Life Magazine and see exceptional photos of the revolution – scenes we’ve never witnessed before. Through these photos, we might form a different view of the revolution. A view which does not sit well with those who want to impose a particular narrative on us all, who don’t want us to see what the camera, the true and trusted lens has captured for the whole world to see.

The photos of the revolution narrate our true history.

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Article written by photographer Javad Montazeri, for JadidOnline.