Shadi Ghadirian is one of Iran’s leading contemporary photographers. Born in Tehran in 1974, she rose to prominence in the late 1990s and has since become a defining voice of her generation.

Shaped by the restrictions of post-revolutionary Iran, Ghadirian’s work probes the boundaries of freedom and expression, reflecting a collective yearning for liberty and colour. This new monograph traces her evolution – from the stillness of Untitled Qajar to the digitally manipulated Ctrl+Alt+Del – as she navigates the tensions between public and private, tradition and modernity, documentary and fiction.

With wit and subversive charm, Ghadirian parodies domesticity and authority alike, cementing her reputation as one of the most original photographers of her time.

Rose Issa is a curator, writer and publisher who has championed visual art and film from the Middle East and North Africa for more than forty years. She is the editor of Chant Avedissian: Cairo Stencils, Arabicity: Contemporary Arab Art, Signs of Our Times: From Calligraphy to Calligraffiti, Maliheh Afnan: Familiar Faces, and Parastou Forouhar: Art, Life and Death in Iran.