TEHRAN – An exhibition, which will be organized at the Bahar Gallery of the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) from May 18 to 23, will showcase a collection of photos featuring the daily lives of Iranian nomads living in the Kohkiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad region.

The exhibition titled “Something Like Life” will be organized in collaboration with the Rade No-Andish Art and Cultural Institute and the Yasuj branch of the Art Bureau, the IAF announced on Monday.  

The photos are from a collection by Es’haq Aqai, an Iranian photographer who was raised in a nomad family in the region.  

In a catalog published for the exhibit, the organizers wrote, “Kohkiluyeh-Boyer Ahmad is a part of the central Zagros region, which, due to its two different types of climate, has provided a suitable habitat for nomads over history.”

“Migration of the nomads begins in mid-autumn and mid-spring every year. The collective relocation is done every year, but there has been a major decline in the nomad population over the past few decades so that   half of the nomads have given up the nomadic lifestyle.”

According to the catalog, Iran has a nomad population of 1.2 million, which is declining as they gradually stop living as nomads and choose to live in permanent residences in villages and cities.

“This change will have serious repercussions for the country: Many subcultures, rituals, traditions and the beauty of this lifestyle will be consigned to oblivion,” read the catalog.

In his brief comments published in the catalog, Aqai said, “Photography of nomads is a cultural obsession for me, and in a time when modernity has infected all the structures of society, nomadic life is also not safe from it.”

Photo: A poster for Es’haq Aqai’s photo exhibition “Something Like Life” at the Iranian Artists Forum

MMS/YAW