TEHRAN – An exhibition opened on Saturday on Kish Island is displaying photos of Commander Qassem Soleimani in some military operations and his funeral.

The photos have been taken by a number of Iranian photographers, and the Contemporary Art Gallery of the Persian Gulf island will host the showcase entitled “School of Soleimani” until the end of January.

Commander Soleimani was assassinated in a U.S. air raid in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

Photos by Hossein Mersadi and Hassan Qaedi have been selected to be showcased at the exhibition. They had been in company with Soleimani in several operations during the war against the ISIS terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

The exhibition is also hanging photos by Morteza Jaberian, Mohammad Mohsenifar, Mohsen Karamali, Hamed Malekpur, Erfan Kuchari and Vahid Bayat, who covered Soleimani’s funeral procession across the country.

Abbas Mirhashemi is the curator of the exhibit, which has been organized by the Visual Arts Office in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Visual Arts.

The photos are scheduled to be showcased in an online exhibit in the near future.

In February 2019, just one month after the martyrdom of the Commander, Iran’s Young Photographers Club held a photo exhibition in memory of Commander Soleimani also on Kish Island.

The exhibit named “Farewell to Commander” highlighted national solidarity and put a spotlight on the lofty status of the Commander.

Only professional photographers participated in the exhibition where no photos taken with cellphones were displayed.

The exhibit was organized in three categories, one of which was dedicated to photos representing the bravery of Martyr Soleimani.

Another section focused on photos depicting people’s presence at Soleimani’s funeral. The other category was dedicated to photographs representing photographers’ efforts to cover the funeral.

The exhibit next moved to Tehran and several other cities. 

Later in September, the Revayat Cultural Foundation organized a photo contest on the funeral of the martyr in a virtual exhibition named “My Commander”.

The photo contest was held in several categories including single photo, series, cellphones and young adults.

Photo: A poster for the photo exhibition “School of Soleimani” on Kish Island designed by Saber Sheikhrezai. 

RM/MMS/YAW