Mashid Mohadjerin is an Iranian born photojournalist and portrait photographer. Her photo-essays are portrait based long-term projects. She has been turning her camera to identity and gender related issues, migration and the socially/culturally displaced.
Iran –
KT: How did you get into photography? When/what was your first encounter with photography?
MM: I started photography in an Art-high-school. We had a small dark-room, I think it was an optional class. I remember I loved being in outside and among people and then in the darkroom looking back at what I did. I took photo’s before with my fathers camera but developing made me fall in love with photography.
KT: Your work is a distinguished mix of empathy and hard-hitting photos, ranging from searching the female fighters after the outbreak of the Arab spring to identity, refugee crisis and migration issues. On what basis do you select your subjects? How do you decide to get so close to your subject?
MM: In many ways, my subjects are always connected to my own experiences, things I can personally relate to. Migration, adjusting to new identities, as well as stories that come forth from revolution and uprisings, have all been part of my own life. I don’t think it’s possible to tell photographic stories without getting close to your subject. Being close unlocks encounters that are unexpected, hence going beyond what one can imagine without being there. I like discovering new insights and learning from my subjects, they have helped me grow in many ways.
KT: Your powerful book ‘Lipstick and Gas masks’ is an artistic approach to the uprising in Egypt and Tunisia from the position of female activists. What do you like about the medium of photography in book format? Being a rationalist photojournalist yourself, why do you think that the photobook world is mostly dominated by art based photography?
MM: I am not sure about art books dominating but I do think that the book as a medium is more interesting when you have the freedom of form. Meaning free from the documentary photography guidelines of photo + text. When I was doing documentary stories, the magazine was a better medium to tell the stories that needed to be heard now, by a wide audience, the work I did in Lipstick and Gas Masks was more reflective, a series that can be viewed at any time without urgency.
