The Sun Collection

The name of this collection, “The Sun” or “Khorshid” in Persian, was taken from my grandmother’s name. She lived her life in an old house in a small town in the north of Iran where all these photos were shot. Locals of this small town treasure their traditions and cultural beliefs. These beliefs have strong roots in rich ancient folk tales and fairy tales once our ancestors told many years ago. Though it is unfortunate that most of these stories are getting forgotten and lost in recent history. I found it my passion and my mission to collect all these stories and bring them to life by re-creating scenes from old local folktales. And as an admirer of Stage Photography techniques, I have tried to capture these photos using the same style. • Each photo is telling an old story that has shaped one of today’s local beliefs or traditions in this town over the years. As an individual who grew up in this culture, I decided to make this collection more personal by adding elements that show my own interpretation of these tales and tried to re-tell each story the way I’ve seen it and felt it when growing up.This collection was shot with minimum facilities: one Canon 6D and simple lighting sources found at my grandmother’s home. • When doing my research, it came to my attention that all these folktales have one thing in common. In all of these stories, there are certain evil characters/monsters that spread fear and threat among people. These dark souls force people to obey them, no questions asked. This dark fear, that once belonged to old stories, then became a none separable part of most traditions and everyday life routines that exist today among locals of this town.To better show this dark fear, most photos were taken at night, when monsters in the stories usually come to life. There is a human figure (myself) hidden somewhere in the background of photos as the symbol for the dark monsters and fake fears. The reason I chose a "human" figure to represent these monsters is that I believe the source of most dark fears is nothing supernatural but ourselves and what we as humans choose to believe and act on in our lives. • as opposed to darkness, there is light in all photos – I used an old oil lantern for this purpose - which symbolizes a brave mind that can break any superstition dark fears. To make all these stories connected to each other, as if everything is happening to one household, there are some items such as a bassinet, a blue photo frame and a wedding dress that might repeat in all shots.