Ashkan Shabani is an Iranian documentary photographer, visual storyteller, and video journalist based in Germany. His work explores human rights, migration, identity, political extremism, and communities living under social and political pressure, with a particular focus on the ways ideology shapes everyday life.
He began his career in photojournalism in 2016 and has since worked across the Middle East and Europe, documenting LGBTQ+ lives in the MENA region, protest movements in Iran, migration and exile, elections, natural disasters, and the rise of far-right extremism in Germany.
In recent years, his practice has shifted from daily journalism toward long-term documentary and investigative storytelling. His work combines documentary photography, reporting, and immersive field research to examine contemporary social and political realities. His long-term project, The Quiet Rise, investigates the increasing visibility and normalization of far-right extremism in Germany through direct access, field reporting, and documentary photography.
His work has been published and featured by TIME, The Atlantic, Financial Times, GEO, ZEIT, Handelsblatt, Corriere della Sera, Daily Mirror, DW, ZDF, NTV, Science Magazine, NRC, Welt am Sonntag, and other international outlets. In 2025, The Quiet Rise was featured on ZDF's aspekte and published as part of a ZEIT Dossier.
Shabani's work has received international recognition through the LensCulture Critics' Choice Awards 2026 Top 10, the LensCulture Portrait Awards 2022, the ZEKE Award 2021, nomination for the Joop Swart Masterclass by World Press Photo, nomination for the FotoForm Book Award, selection for the Hamburg Portfolio Review 2025, and inclusion in Der Greif Issue 18: Tomorrow is Today, curated by Hank Willis Thomas.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at Paris Photo, Photoville in New York, Bridge Gallery in Massachusetts, Matadero Madrid, Kampnagel Hamburg, FREELENS Gallery Hamburg, Kunstraum Universität Lüneburg, GWA St. Pauli, and Kadıköy Art in Istanbul.
Shabani has received scholarships from VII Academy and Magnum Photos and is a member of Diversify Photo and Native Agency.
