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Iran Archive

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1. Jun 23, 2009

   Iran Today

   This is a caption for my image Twenty years ago this month, in June 1989, I was in Iran photographing the mourning for Ayatollah Khomeini. Ten years ago I covered the reform movement when it was in power under President Mohammed Khatami. Iran has shifted from right to left and…

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   Alexandra Avakian

2. Jan 29, 2009

   Iran

   Traveling in the Islamic Republic of Iran was one of my most personal journeys and is in the second chapter of my book. You probably want to know: why would an American woman with all the freedom in the world want to subject herself to so much time in the…

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   Alexandra Avakian

3. Oct 16, 2008

   Iraq

   Though based in Moscow, I traveled widely in Iraq after the first Gulf War and returned in 1999 to cover Iraq’s problem with looted archaeology. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was a difficult, miserable, fear-soaked universe crawling with informants. People could not even trust family members, much less neighbors. A child might…

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   Alexandra Avakian

4. Oct 10, 2008

   Scenes From a Set

   This picture was taken on a movie set on Kish Island, Iran, in the Persian Gulf. The Islamic Republic was using Kish as a social testing ground for mild liberalization at that time. The director was the dissident Bahram Beyzaii. This is his wife, actress Mozhdeh Shamsai . I was…

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   Alexandra Avakian