Abbas

Iranian, b. 1944

An Iranian transplanted to Paris, Abbas has dedicated his work to documenting the political and social life of societies in conflict. His major work since 1970 includes wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, and South Africa under apartheid. 

From 1978 to 1980, Abbas photographed the revolution in Iran, where he returned in 1997 after 17 years of voluntary exile. His book IranDiary 1971-2002 is a critical interpretation of Iranian history, photographed and written as a personal diary.

From 1983 to 1986, he traveled through Mexico. This trip - where he attempted to photograph a country as a novelist would write about it - produced an exhibition and Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, a book which helped define his photographic esthetic. 

From 1987 to 1994, he focused on the resurgence of Islam throughout the world, from China's Xinjiang to Morocco. Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, the subsequent book and exhibit, exposes the internal tensions within Muslim societies torn between a mythical past and a desire for modernization and democracy. Spanning twenty-nine countries and four continents, the book drew special attention after the 9/11 attacks by Islamic jihadists.

When the year 2000 becomes a landmark in the universal calendar, Christianity is the symbol of the strength of Western civilization. Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey, a later book and a touring show, explores Christianity as a political, ritual and spiritual phenomenon.

From 2000 to 2002, Abbas explored animism, seeking to discover why irrational rituals have re-emerged in a world increasingly defined by science and technology. He abandoned this project on the first anniversary of 9/11. Currently, Abbas is examining how religion - which he defines as culture rather than faith - is replacing political ideology as the driving force behind international conflict. 

In Abbas' own words, his photography is "a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity - the suspended moment - intervenes during action, in the viewfinder. A reflection on the subject precedes it. A meditation on finality follows it, and it is here, during this exalting and fragile moment, that the real photographic writing develops, sequencing the images. For this reason a writer's spirit is necessary to this enterprise. Isn't photo-graphy 'writing with light'? But with the difference that while the writer possesses his word, the photographer is himself, possessed by his photo, by the limit of the real which he must transcend so as not to become its prisoner."

A member of Sipa from 1971 to 1973, then of Gamma from 1974 to 1980, Abbas joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and became a member in 1985.

Exhibitions

2006       The Children of Abraham - Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, Norway
2006      [FS:PAGE] Islams and Shias - Vicino/Lontano, Udine, Italy
2005       Sur la Route des Esprits, La Chambre Claire, France
2004       Iran - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2004       Resurgence of Shias - Visa in Perpignan, France
2004       Ya Saddam - Noorderlicht, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
2004       Islams - The United Nations, New York, USA
2003       Visiones de l'Islam - La Caixa, Girona, Granada, Pamplona and Palma de Mallorca, 
              Spain
2002       Iran, the Revolution - The Grey Gallery, New York, USA
2002       Viaggio Negli Islam del Mondo - Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze, Italy
2002       Visiones de l'Islam - la Caixa, Tarragona, Madrid, Malaga, Orense, Spain
2002       IranDiary - Visa in Perpignan, France
1999       Islamies - Place Royale, Brussels, Belgium; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
1999       Chrétiens - House of Photography, Moscow, Russia; Eberhardskirche, Stuttgart, 
              Germany
1994       Retornos a Mexico - Centro Nacional de la  Fotografia, Mexico
1992       Return to Mexico - Mexico Cultural Center, Paris; Maison pour Tous, Calais, France
1991       Retrospective - Imagina, Almeria, Spain
1986       Votez pour Moi - Galerie Magnum, Paris,  France
1984       Retrospective - Galerie ARPA, Bordeaux,  France
1983       Retrospective - Consejo de Fotografia,  Mexico
1982       Citizen of the Third World – The Photographers' Gallery, London, England; Open Eye 
              Gallery, Liverpool, England
1980       Iran, the Revolution - Museum of Contemporary  Art, Tehran, Iran; Darvazeh Ghar 
              mosque, Tehran, Iran; Fundacao Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1977       Retrospective - Galerie Litho, Tehran, Iran 
              Ce jour-là - Galerie FNAC, Paris
1972       Ganvie People - Falomo, Nigeria

Books

2006       The Children of Abraham, Intervalles, France
2005       Abbas, I Grandi Fotografi di Magnum[FS:PAGE], Hachette, Italy
2005       IranDiaro: 1971-2005, Saggiatore, Italy
2005       Sur la Route des Esprits, Delpire, France
2002       IranDiary: 1971-2002, Autrement, France
2000       Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey, A. Abrams, USA
1994       Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, Phaidon, UK; 
              Allah O Akbar - Voyages dans l'Islam militant, Phaidon, France;
              Allah O Akbar - Viaggio negli islam del mondo, Contrasto, Italy
1992       Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, W.W. Norton, USA
1986       Retornos a Oapan, FCE, Mexico
1980       Iran: La Revolution Confisquée, Editions Cletrat, France
1977       Zaire Today, Editions Jeune Afrique, France