Ali & Ramyar

Kathmandu
Hijab is one of the fundamental cultural elements in Iran. It is not only used as a clothing for men and women, but also as a curtain to keep private space of houses from strangers’ eyes. Windows are also architectural elements that make a connection between the inside and the outside: a hole inside walls to give one the possibility to see or to be seen. Moreover, curtains have a contradictory role in this culture: it is where this fear of being observed by others meets the excitement of observing someone else’s privacy. This series of photographs represents the complicated aspect of this culture. While Hijab is trying to save the privacy of people’s lives, it is carrying the lust of sighting the lives of others: an obvious contradiction in an undetermined cycle. Looking into other people’s lives and the fear of being seen by others inevitably converge in a point we came to call “Kathmandu.”