Photo: Timothy Johanessen
On the islands off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz there’s an ancient belief the winds can possess you, causing illness or disease. Island residents practice a ceremony in which the wind is spoken to through the afflicted patient to negotiate its exit.
Iranian-Australian photographer Hoda Afshar has been visiting the islands since 2015 and recently published her photobook Speak the Wind. Raised in Tehran during the war between Iran and Iraq, Afshar is interested in finding new ways to approach documentary image-making. Her most recent series involves ‘3D photographs’ of political whistleblowers.
Afshar was due to speak at Photobook/ NZ during the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival. Photobook/ NZ has now been rescheduled for August.
