Marzieh Ghiasi

Click to see full view of a panorama of Mellat Park enterance.

I’ve began to go through my pictures and journal entries from the past summer. These pictures were taken this past summer at Pârk-e Mellat (the National Park) in Tehran, Iran. It’s adjacent to Valiasr Street and is the central park of Tehran and one of its largest. I visited the park a couple of days after the initial massive post-election protests that took place passing through the lengthy Valiasr street. In front of the entrance of the park there are many small kiosk shops that sell lovely handicrafts. There I heard the shopkeepers’ recollections about the protests they had witnessed. As with future encounters, in general some people were hesitant, but the majority of the people spoke quite openly which actually surprised me. One lady said “I saw it with my own eyes. There was a sea of people passing, but everyone was silent.”

Kamal-ol-molk - painter.

Nima Yooshij - modern persian poet.

Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi - alchemist, chemist, physician, philosopher.

Mohtasham Kashani - poet.

Statue of Mother.

Statue of Mother (close-up).

Working hard to keep green.

Lanterns at the park.

Permanent smog in the air.

The park's enclosed zoo.

Swans in the lake.

Deers on the grounds.

A resting kiosk.

Entrance of the park.

Reaching out to the sun.