Photo © Farshid Tighehsaz
Photojournalism - NOMINEE: Farshid Tighehsaz
The suicide of butterflies
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For being a suicide photographer one needs to spend a long time having suicidal thoughts. I have had my share. During these years I have had thinking of committing suicide but each time I have changed my mind. I could not do it since it requires a great deal of courage. Each time a reason, a ray of hope has stopped me from doing it; family, friends, photography, love, and so forth.
But how desperate can people who commit suicide be? Every time I read or hear about a suicide attempt, my heart beat rises, my breath tightens, and fear takes all over my body. And I always ask myself,” Who will be next?” maybe one of my friends? Maybe one of my loved ones? In an act of a suicide, the murderer cannot be identified. So what determines the line between committing suicide and murder when the world encourages you to do both? Who is the killer? What about the circumstances? The environment? Life?
In Iran, according to the unofficial statistics, more than 4,000 people with an age range of 18 to 25 years old have ended their lives in 2015 and the number of people committing suicide in this year is greater than years 2014 and 2013 which demonstrates the increasing rate of suicides in Iran.
In this work you will not find any signs of suicide and I don’t mean to illustrate violence. What I’m trying to show is a concept of life that drags people to a point that they feel non-existence is better than existence and everything is absurd. Most of the characters in my photos are the people who I might meet every day. All these characters have something in common and that is pondering over death. The suicide of butterflies is a work about the thinking of suicide. Who is thinking about it and who has done or failed to do.
I hope this work can open new doors for addressing this reality. A reality that has been made taboo by the Iran’s government and society and it seems impossible to address the problem.
About author:
Farshid is a freelance photographer based in Tabriz, Iran. He was born in 22 July 1987. He's father was an amateur photographer. Sometimes he took the landscape pictures and portraits of family members.
Farshid started photography for understanding the Life after his father died in since 2006. Also he studied General Psychology at the University.
In 2010 he started professionally work with some news agencies in Iran until 2014. He’s works has been published internationally on news agencies such as New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, associated press, Agence France-Press…
Awards and Festivals:
-shortlisted for the KOLGA TBILISI PHOTO AWARD 2016 with "From Labyrinth" project.
-RIGA PHOTOMONTH 2016 for "From Labyrinth" project.
-Sheed Grant (Iranian independent social documentary photography grant) 2016 for " The suicide of butterflies" project.
But how desperate can people who commit suicide be? Every time I read or hear about a suicide attempt, my heart beat rises, my breath tightens, and fear takes all over my body. And I always ask myself,” Who will be next?” maybe one of my friends? Maybe one of my loved ones? In an act of a suicide, the murderer cannot be identified. So what determines the line between committing suicide and murder when the world encourages you to do both? Who is the killer? What about the circumstances? The environment? Life?
In Iran, according to the unofficial statistics, more than 4,000 people with an age range of 18 to 25 years old have ended their lives in 2015 and the number of people committing suicide in this year is greater than years 2014 and 2013 which demonstrates the increasing rate of suicides in Iran.
In this work you will not find any signs of suicide and I don’t mean to illustrate violence. What I’m trying to show is a concept of life that drags people to a point that they feel non-existence is better than existence and everything is absurd. Most of the characters in my photos are the people who I might meet every day. All these characters have something in common and that is pondering over death. The suicide of butterflies is a work about the thinking of suicide. Who is thinking about it and who has done or failed to do.
I hope this work can open new doors for addressing this reality. A reality that has been made taboo by the Iran’s government and society and it seems impossible to address the problem.
About author:
Farshid is a freelance photographer based in Tabriz, Iran. He was born in 22 July 1987. He's father was an amateur photographer. Sometimes he took the landscape pictures and portraits of family members.
Farshid started photography for understanding the Life after his father died in since 2006. Also he studied General Psychology at the University.
In 2010 he started professionally work with some news agencies in Iran until 2014. He’s works has been published internationally on news agencies such as New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, associated press, Agence France-Press…
Awards and Festivals:
-shortlisted for the KOLGA TBILISI PHOTO AWARD 2016 with "From Labyrinth" project.
-RIGA PHOTOMONTH 2016 for "From Labyrinth" project.
-Sheed Grant (Iranian independent social documentary photography grant) 2016 for " The suicide of butterflies" project.