Nasrollah Kasraian Information

Kasraian, Nasrollah (born 1944, Khorram Abad) Kokab Mehrabi was his mother and his father was called Assadollah who was a book shopper. His father possessed a rather big shop and besides selling book, he offered painting tableaus and the batiks that were popular at that time. When his father was young lost his eyes and remained blind up to the end of his life and this incident caused great difficulties for his crowded family. Nasrollah published the book of “Our Land, Iran” with his own investment in 1990 (the number of the copies were 5000). After a few months the book was welcomed greatly, in such a way that it was sold in black market. In the years after Islamic Revolution no glamorous pictorial book about Iran was published and Kasraeiyan with compiling and publishing this book turned the glances of society of photographers of the world towards Iran. Though some people do not agree with his glance, but when this book republished many many times and after 20 years of its publication, its circulation touched the number of 100,000 copies, showed that Kasraieyan has successfully chosen the most beautiful scenes of Iran and his glance at Iran is wonderful. The publication of this book left such a great influence that perhaps one can divide the Iran scenes photographing into two eras; pre and post era of “Our Land, Iran His work in the absence of the government auspice, both in combination and production, formed a new look about photographing of Iran and successively many photographers followed him and created splendid works. For this reason, one can say in certain that the next generation of Iran photographers have placed their foot on the Kasraieyan’s shoulder. It is true that he introduces himself humbly as a relay runner, who has received the stick from the previous runner to give it to the next runner, but in fact he was an initiator. In 1976 Kasraeiyan held his first individual exhibition in the Iran France Society. In this exhibition a visitor asked: “Is everything as black as that you have shown?” he replied: “I am a lazy photographer and prefer to take photo of the items which are at hand and are seen incessantly.” He travelled to Paris in 1982 and the celebrated publication of “Double Pages”, published his book under the title of L’ Iran Rural within a great collection of works which we called le livre d’or des Grands photographs. Later his two other books one in Germany under the title of Kurdistan in 1991 and the other one the Nomadic People of Iran in England was published in England, in 2002. Kasraieyan always talk of the role of his family especially his wife, Ziba Arshi in his life and his own profession. He talks of her not only for the sake of affection and respect but also out of humbleness. Her role in photography is not merely accepting the difficulties of vagrancies of a man who has journeyed 3 million kilometers, throughout Iran, but her role in Kasraieyan’s photography is more than a patient self-abnegated wife, she has accompanied him in all his journeys and has facilitated the process of taking photo among the various tribes with various culture and also writing analytical and anthropological explanations and descriptions for his books such as: Iran Nomads, Iran Kurds, Iran Turkmans, Baluchestan, the North, the South, Iran Bazaars, Qashqaies and … the same authentic and careful writings have given a special value to these books which are regarded as reference books. Kasraieyan within 50 years of photography has produced about 30 books, most of them have been invested by the photographer, he has never been supported by any public or governmental organization. Though his role in introducing Iran through photography was very ostensible and effective but he always kept himself far from all the clamors and has evaded to be in the lime light. In the era that no useful and instructive book was being published in the field of photography as an art, he translated the book of The Complete Photographer by Andreas Feininger into Persian, so far he has republished this text book eleven times and its circulation passed over 55000 copies and even today is regarded as one of the university text books. He has worn out 30 cars during his journeys and 6 cameras within the course of photographing and he possesses many photos which are not displayed yet. Kasraieyan from the old times (many years before the victory of Islamic Revolution, when he was preparing black and white photos for the book of Passage from the years of 1967 to 1980) has shown Iran by his own method far from propaganda clamor of sentimental nationalism or fundamentalism. He not only lives with photography but also regards photography as a manner for fighting to change the world. None of the contemporary Iranian photographers has ever left such a great impression upon the art of photography like Kasraieyan, for this very reason he is one of the contemporary characters who has enliven the Iranian Identity.