Iran has distinguished itself with the spectacular quality and international presence of its film and visual art. Given the backdrop of attention increasingly focused on the art and culture of Iran, and now on the political crisis in that part of the world, an exhibition of this kind is most timely. The perspective of these artists contradicts the way many foreign photographers use the medium – which is to represent Iran and its people as purely exotic.

In expressing their many different visions of their world, the contributors offer a look at both private and public realms. Such is the art of Shokoufeh Alidousti, whose self-portraits and family photographs explore both cultural and female identity. Esmail Abbasi draws on Persian literature for his subject matter with contemporary notes on the present circumstances in Iran. Shahriar Tavakoli focuses on his family history through a series of portraits capturing the subtleties and mood of the Iranian family. In Koroush Adim’s Revelation series, the image in the exhibition that feature the veil acknowledge this sign of culture, and yet the “revelation” is anything but simple. In Shahrokh Ja’fari’s work, his use of unusual special rendering of their veiled figure in effect serve as a demand that the viewer look harder and think harder about what can be shown through the visual.

The artists represented in Persian Visions cannot entirely surmount the physical and cultural distance between Iran and the United States, but nevertheless this exhibition builds a visual bridge that allows for differences even as it leads viewers to become aware of other ways of being and seeing.