Kaveh Golestan: Prostitute 1975-77

Artist: Kaveh Golestan

Photo London, Somerset House, London | 21 May – 24 May 2015

Kaveh Golestan: Prostitute (1975-77), curated by Vali Mahlouji, will be the first UK exhibition of the late Iranian documentary photographer’s portraits taken between 1975-77 in the Citadel of Shahr e No (New Town), Tehran’s red light district, a walled ghetto where 1,500 women lived and worked. The Citadel was set on fire a few weeks before the victory of the revolution in 1979 with an undisclosed number of residents trapped inside, and was later demolished through an official decree.

The exhibition is part of Archeology of the Final Decade, a curatorial platform which recirculates artistic materials that have remained obscure, over-looked, banned or in some cases destroyed. The exhibition has previously been shown at FOAM (Amsterdam), Museé d’Art Moderne (Paris) and MAXX Museum (Rome).