Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/kaveh-golestan-23096" aria-label="More by Kaveh Golestan" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Kaveh Golestan</a>
Prostitute
Presented by the estate of Kaveh Golestan, with assistance from Dr. Nina Ansari, 2016
adults
architecture
body
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
countries and continents
documentary
domestic
emotions, concepts and ideas
female
formal qualities
interior - non-specific
interiors
Iran
natural phenomena
nudes
people
photographic
places
prostitution
sex and relationships
shadow
society
street
tattoo
Tehran, Citadel of Shahr e No
townscapes / man-made features
woman
<p>This is one of a group of twenty black and white vintage gelatin silver prints in Tate’s collection from Iranian photographer Kaveh Golestan’s <span>Prostitutes</span> series, made between 1975 and 1977 (see Tate P14698–P14707 and P81628–P81637). Each individual work is untitled, the collective title referring to the occupation of the women who are pictured in the portrait series. The images were shot in the red light district of Iran, the citadel Shahr-e No, documenting the surroundings in which the women lived and worked. Golestan was born in Tehran in 1950 and educated between Iran and the United Kingdom, returning to Iran in 1969 after completing his formal education. In the 1970s he began working as a photojournalist while also developing his artistic practice which crossed the mediums of film, photography and literature. In 1975 he embarked on a long-term project documenting people living on the margins of society in pre-revolution Tehran. Focusing on groups of people who were neglected and hidden from mainstream society, Golestan wanted to reveal the true social landscape of the country. <span>Prostitutes </span>became known as his most iconic series from this period.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
Untitled, Prostitute Series
support: 248 × 168 mm
Presented by the estate of Kaveh Golestan, with assistance from Dr. Nina Ansari, 2016
<div class="text">
<p>This is one of a group of twenty black and white vintage gelatin silver prints in Tate’s collection from Iranian photographer Kaveh Golestan’s <i>Prostitutes</i> series, made between 1975 and 1977 (see Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/golestan-untitled-prostitute-series-p14698" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14698</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/golestan-untitled-prostitute-series-p14707" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14707</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/golestan-untitled-prostitute-series-p81628" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P81628</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/golestan-untitled-prostitute-series-p81637" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P81637</span></a>). Each individual work is untitled, the collective title referring to the occupation of the women who are pictured in the portrait series. The images were shot in the red light district of Iran, the citadel Shahr-e No, documenting the surroundings in which the women lived and worked. Golestan was born in Tehran in 1950 and educated between Iran and the United Kingdom, returning to Iran in 1969 after completing his formal education. In the 1970s he began working as a photojournalist while also developing his artistic practice which crossed the mediums of film, photography and literature. In 1975 he embarked on a long-term project documenting people living on the margins of society in pre-revolution Tehran. Focusing on groups of people who were neglected and hidden from mainstream society, Golestan wanted to reveal the true social landscape of the country. <i>Prostitutes </i>became known as his most iconic series from this period.</p>
<p>Shahr-e No, meaning ‘new city’, was the name given to the area which emerged in the 1920s and rapidly expanded, so that by the 1940s it was a thriving red light district with cabarets, drinking dens, and more explicit entertainment venues acting as a playground for both the bohemian clientele of artists and writers and the working class men visiting the city from the country’s rural areas. In 1953 a wall was erected around the area transforming it into an inner city ghetto which could only be accessed by one main gate. This isolated area began to be referred to as the Citadel and by the mid-1960s the walled city had its own health clinic, police station and a small social services department. Inside these walls over 1,500 women lived and worked as sex workers under terrible living conditions. Golestan, then a young photographer in his mid-twenties, began his project to document their lives in 1975 and spent three years researching and studying the area, forming long-term friendships with many of the residents who allowed him to photograph them in a very intimate way. The citadel of Shahr-e No was deliberately set alight during the Iranian revolution in 1979 with an undisclosed number of residents still trapped inside. There was no attempt to put out the fire, which instead was left to burn. The area was later bulldozed under government instructions and the site was never rebuilt. Today the area is a park with no reference to either what it used to be or how it was destroyed, erasing all memory of the history of the city. Golestan’s images are the last known record of the area as it was.</p>
<p class="cttext">
</p><blockquote>The series formed part of a larger project titled <i>Prostitute, Worker, Asylum</i>, a social documentary project in which Golestan sought to expose the plight of people who had been segregated and marginalised from mainstream society. All three series were included in an exhibition also titled <i>Prostitute, Worker, Asylum</i> that opened at the Aboid Gallery in Tehran University on the 1 May 1978. The exhibition was open for fourteen days before it was shut down by the authorities. Golestan was clear about his intentions to use photography as a tool to expose social injustice and give invisible members of society a chance to be seen and heard. However, at the same time, he also saw his practice in relation to the history of photography. When talking about the work, Golestan noted that the photographs should be viewed as formal portraits, stating, ‘I consider this an exhibition of portrait photography. This is the context within which I framed the work. Naturally in order to portray the reality, I have ensured that some of the sitters are portrayed within their [individual] setting.’ (Quoted in Somerset House<i> </i>2015, p.228.)  </blockquote>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Malu Halasa,<i> Kaveh Golestan 1950–2003, Recording the Truth in Iran</i>, Ostfildern 2007.<br/>Vali Mahlouji, <i>Photo London</i>, exhibition catalogue, Photo London at West Wing Embankment Gallery, Somerset House, London, 21–24 May 2015, pp.227–8.</p>
<p>Shoair Mavlian<br/>July 2015</p>
</div>

Summary
2024-02-29T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
adults architecture body cities, towns, villages (non-UK) countries and continents documentary domestic emotions, concepts and ideas female formal qualities interior - non-specific interiors Iran natural phenomena nudes people photographic places prostitution sex and relationships shadow society street tattoo Tehran, Citadel of Shahr e No townscapes / man-made features woman