The photographs of Iranian photographer Fataneh Dadkhah tell the story of artistic survival and the strength of human spirit during the 20 years since the Iranian revolution.
Thirty-five photographs, "Iranian Theatre: Post-Revolutionary Works," are on exhibit until May 31 at the newly opened Roulette Gallery in Kensington. The photos are selected from a body of work from more than 20 years of state and street performance photography taken by Dadkhah, a photographer from Iran who recently relocated with her son to Potomac.
The challenges of being an artist under Islamic rule seem to inspire creativity in Dadkhah. She hopes people who see her photographs "will see a message that there are good things our cultures can share."
While post-revolutionary Iranian street clothing can be drab, the theater depicted in her photographs is full of color and passion. According to Dadkhah, the theater shows the true spirit of the Iranian people.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS in this exhibit "are a real testimony to the will to create," said Caroline Roulette Jockel, owner of the Roulette Gallery. She added that the photographer as well as the artists she captured put everything on the line to follow their dreams.
In 1979, just after the Islamic revolution in Iran, all the nation's theaters closed, Dadkhah said. Ballerinas didn't dance. Actors didn't act. The creative community was in crisis. And Dadkhah was out of a job working in the public relations office for the national opera.
Within a year, theatres started to reopen, and artists learned to adjust to life under strict Islamic rule. While ballerinas and opera singers no longer performed their chosen professions, many found new roles in the world of stage and street performance art. And, Dadkhah was asked to be the official photographer for the Dramatic Arts Center in Tehran.
THIS NEW JOB would eventually lead her to her current profession in theater and portrait photography.
Over the next 20 years, Dadkhah photographed with a passion and had many solo exhibitions. She published a book, Theatre Photography, in 1983 and was featured in an article about five prominent female Iranian artists in the French edition of Elle Magazine in December 2000.
But then came the call two years ago from the American consulate accepting her application to emigrate, application she put in upon the urging of her sister living in the United States when her son was born 12 years ago.
"To tell you the truth I forgot all about it until they called," she said. After the interview she was accepted and was told she needed to leave right away.
So with her son, her camera and her portfolio she came to the United States. Starting a new life in a new country has its challenges, especially when she does not want to sever her ties in Iran, said Dadkhah. Her husband is an architect and professor still working in Tehran and she hopes to travel there this summer.
She says she would like to continue her work in theatre photography here in the United States. Until then, she hopes to make ends meet by doing portrait work which she also did in Iran.
“PHOTOGRAPHY FOR ME is creating a life, and finding the beauty in everything," she said. "For me, photography is like meditation, a new state of consciousness."
Dadkhah has many supporters in the area she calls her "angels." A team of counselors and mentors from the Montgomery County Commission for Women helped her transition her professional life from Tehran to Montgomery County.
"Fataneh is extremely motivated and talented," said Marjorie Godfried, a counselor interning with the Montgomery County Commission for Women who worked with the photographer after she was referred to the commission by her son's school in Potomac.
The Montgomery County Commission for Women's Displaced Homemaker Program helps women and men who have lost their primary means of economic support due to death, divorce, or other displacement, with counseling, group support and vocational testing, said Janice Herold, clinical supervisor.
"Our clientele is very multicultural and diverse much like most of Montgomery County," added Herold. The commission works with individuals from all walks of life from all over the world.
"With a woman like Fataneh, we help her understand the cultural differences, and help her network and use her strengths," said Herold.
For now, Dadkhah says she knows she has made the right choice for her son who she wants to educate here in the United States.
As for herself, she quotes another famous photographer who said that in America, unlike anywhere else in the world, you can "breath the freedom in the air."