XERXES – ARS LVMINIS

Dear viewers, the Pepsi logo was supposed to be projected on the moon tonight, but the image of the Late Emam won, just as it did thirty something years ago. Because many people don’t believe this, I’ve decided to show you more clearly how to see Chomejni in the moon crescent. Once in a while this […]

This is one of my favorite pictures. I took it in the entrance to the Nation Park (park e mellæt) in Tehran. I like it because it shows you the difference between secular and religious people. The couple on the left is religious. The easiest way to tell that would be to look at the […]

I’ve always felt a certain affinity to the Jewish people and identified with their fate. The two nations have had a long common history – Cyrus the Great allowed the Jews to return to their homeland, and young Israel helped Iran become a modern country and overcome the adverse affects of earthquakes (without their help, […]

Your first thought about Iran is probably related to the negative aspects of extreme Islam. They exist, no doubt. But look at this family in the park. They could have been any family in any park in the world, but they’re dressed differently. The man with the turban is a Mollah – i.e. Islamic clergy. […]

I know it’s internetly “wrong”, but I want this picture to be larger than the post’s width. This picture always gives me a pleasant shiver, and the bigger it is the deeper I feel it. I took this picture in Tehran, shortly after falling in love, and after a long time with no inspiration. Flowers […]

This is one of the most famous verses of Persian poetry, maybe even the most famous. It was written by the 12-13 century Shirazi poet Saadi: بنی آدم اعضای یکدیگرند که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند چو عضوى به درد آورد روزگار دگر عضوها را نماند قرار تو کز محنت دیگران بی غمی نشاید که […]

This is a more recent picture of me with my one-eyed black daughter, taken in the summer of 2012. It was one of my last trips in Iran, a family trip to the north. My strongest memory from this trip is the terrible toilets that were a crappy hut on the hillside. The door needed […]

The thing you see in the following picture is called Geda Ahæni (see my transliteration for correct pronunciation), i.e. an iron beggar. This is part of my series about the aspects of Tehran you will not read about in the newspapers. Iron beggars are spread all over the country. As you see, these metal boxes […]