Persia

Persia Portraying the lands is a central theme through my photography. In this series, I am capturing the real life of Iran. Though the Japanese media has taught us Iran as an ‘evil’ and ‘fanatic’ country, what I found on my first trip was quite different from my prejudiced view. There were the Grand Bazaar full of the stalls selling gorgeous carpets or beautiful relics, the grandiose mosaic architecture, most importantly, a lot of gentle and pure-hearted people. The ‘real’ Iran truly impressed me that I started to visit there frequently. I’ve met a lot of good people and got closer to some of them as friends, which awakened me that they are having the life exactly as we do – embracing the traditions, wishing for happy family life, and simply having fun with friends. I hope that my body of work serves as a window for a wider audience, allowing them to gain a glimpse of the Iran’s real life and find more similarity between us. By doing so, I believe that we would be able to get along better. My ultimate goal is that the earth is always filled with smiles and love so that we can walk hand-in-hand toward happiness. Taiga Koyama