Abbas (photographer)

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Abbas (born 1944) is an Iranian photographer known for his photojournalism in Biafra and Vietnam in the 1970s, and for his photos of Christian and Islamic subjects in later years. He is a member of Magnum Photos.

Abbas, an Iranian transplanted to Paris, has dedicated his photographic work to the political and social coverage of the developing southern nations. Since 1970, his major work, published in world magazines, includes wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Ulster, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, and South Africa with an essay on apartheid.

From 1978 to 1980, he photographed the revolution in Iran, and returned in 1997 after a 17 years voluntary exile. His book iranDiary 1971-2002 (Autrement 2002) is a critical interpretation of its history, photographed and written as a personal diary.

From 1983 to 1986, he traveled in Mexico, photographing the country as if he were writing a novel. An exhibition and a book, Return to Mexico, journeys beyond the mask (W.W.Norton 1992), which includes his travel diaries, help him define his aesthetics in photography.

From 1987 to 1994, from the Xinjiang to Morocco, he photographed the resurgence of Islam. His book and exhibit Allah O Akbar, a journey through militant Islam (Phaidon 1994) exposes the internal tensions within Muslim societies, torn between a mythical past and a desire for modernisation and democracy. The book draws special attention after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

When the year 2000 became a landmark in the universal calendar, Christianity is the symbol of the strength of Western civilization. Faces of Christianity, a photographic journey (A.Abrams 2000) and a touring exhibit, explored this religion as a political, a ritual and a spiritual phenomenon.

From 2000 to 2002 he worked on Animism. In our world defined by science and technology, why do irrational rituals make a strong come-back? He abandoned this project on the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist action in New York.

Abbas is currently working on the Clash of Religions, defined as culture rather than faith, replacing political ideologies in the strategic struggles of the near future. He has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1981.

About his photography Abbas writes:

« My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity – the suspended moment – intervenes during action, in the viewfinder. A reflection on the subject precedes it. A meditation on finality follows it, and it is here, during this exalting and fragile moment, that the real photographic writing develops, sequencing the images. For this reason a writer’s spirit is necessary to this enterprise. Isn’t photography « writing with light »? But with the difference that while the writer possesses his word, the photographers is himself, possessed by his photo, by the limit of the real which he must transcend so as not to become its prisoner. »

[edit] Books

"Iran, la révolution confisquée", Clétrat , Paris 1980
"Retornos a Oapan", FCE Rio de Luz , Mexico 1986
"Return to Mexico", W.W.Norton, New York 1992
"Allah O Akbar, voyages dans l’Islam militant", Phaidon, London 1994
"Allah O Akbar, a journey through militant Islam", Phaidon, London 1994
"Viaggio negli Islam del Mondo", Contrasto, Roma 2002
"Voyage en chrétientés", La Martiniere, Paris 2000
"Faces of christianity", A.Abrams, New York 2000
"Glaube-liebe-hoffnung.", Knesebeck, Munchen 2000
"IranDiary 1971-2002", Autrement, Paris 2002
"IranDiario 1971-2005", Sagiattore, Milano 2006
"Abbas, I Grandi Fotografi di Magnum", Hachette, Milano 2005
"Sur la route des esprits", Delpire, Paris 2005
"The children of Abraham", (exhibit catalogue), Intervalles, Paris 2006

[edit] Exhibits

1972
- Ganvie People, Falomo, Nigeria
1977
- Retrospective, Galerie Litho, Tehran; Ce jour là, Galerie FNAC, Paris
1980
- Iran, the revolution, Museum Contemporary Art, Tehran ; Darvazeh Ghar mosque, Tehran; Fundacao Cultural, Rio de Janeiro
1982
- Citizen of the Third World, Photographer’s Gallery, London; Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, G.B.
1983
- Retrospective, Consejo de Fotogragia, Mexico
1984
- Retrospective, Galerie ARPA, Bordeaux, France
1986
- Votez pour Moi, Galerie Magnum, Paris
1991
- Retrospective, Imagina, Almeria, Espana
1992
- Return to Mexico, Mexico Cultural Center, Paris; Maison pour Tous, Calais
1994
- Retornos a Mexico, Centro Nacional de la Fotografia, Mexico
1999
- Islamies, Place Royale, Brussels
- Islamies, Arab World Institute, Paris
- Chrétiens, House of Photography, Moscou
- Chrétiens, Eberhardskirche, Stuttgart
2002
- Iran, the revolution, The Grey Gallery, New York
- Viaggio negli Islam del mondo, Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze, Italia
- Visiones de l’Islam, la Caixa, Tarragona, Madrid, Malaga, Orense, Espana
- IranDiary, Visa in Perpignan, France
2003
- Visiones de l’Islam, la Caixa, Girona, Granada, Pamplona and Palma de Mallorca, Espana
2004
- Iran, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
- Resurgence of Shias , Visa in Perpignan, France
- Ya Saddam, Noorderlicht, Leeuwarden, Hollande
- Islams, The United Nations, New York
2005
- Sur la Route des Esprits, La Chambre Claire, Paris
2006
- The Children of Abraham, Nobel Peace Center, Oslo
- Islams and Shias, Vicino/Lontano, Udine, Italia