Fatemeh Behboudi

Documentary Photographer
Mothers of Patience
      
Public Project
Mothers of Patience
Copyright Fatemeh behboudi 2025
Date of Work Apr 2013 - Dec 2016
Updated Apr 2017
Topics Abandonment, Black and White, Civil Wars, Documentary, Friends + Family, Hope, Human Rights, Photography, Photojournalism, Street, War

It's been so many years where all she can do is cry when anguished. Today, due to all her crying, she cannot see anymore.

It"™s been so many years that she has hidden her pains behind a smile so that nobody knows what grief and love have been hidden in her impatient heart.

It"™s been so many years that she has been living for others in silence"¦

but no one knows that her sobs have obstructed her throat and she can no longer say even a lullaby.

She is a mother. 

A mother who every day hopes to receive a call or hear the sound of the doorbell so that maybe "one day, one person" there is some news from her lost son.



The Iran-Iraq War (1980-88) was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th century. This series recounts the grief of the mothers of missing soldiers who live in hope of finally seeing their sons again" or at least holding a body to bury.

The war between Iran and Iraq started on September 22, 1980, with Iraq's massive aggression against the Iranian territories. The war lasted 8 years and over 200,000 Iranian soldiers were killed. The war "which was called the longest conventional conflict of the 20th century" ended in July 1988 after the two countries accepted the UN resolution 598. After the war, it was revealed that the bodies of over 10,000 Iranian soldiers were missing and there is still no sign of them.

In recent years, the bodies of 7,000 Iranian martyrs have been found in Iranian territories, but due to their unknown identity, they have been registered as anonymous martyrs and were buried. At present, the bodies of 5,000 Iranians are still in Iraqi territories.

This is a story about the mothers of those missing Iranian martyrs who, after 35 years, narrate how they have spent their years in pain, expectation, love, and hope to find their sons. They are waiting to find the corpses of their children in the last days of their life, some waiting in vain"

Fatemeh Behboudi

11,422

Also by Fatemeh Behboudi —

Project

A letter to Leila

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

Lost house

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

Print Sales

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

One moment

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

THE WAR IS STILL ALIVE

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

PORTFOLIO

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

Little fears

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

fasting of silence

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

TURKMEN BRIDES

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

Lost Memories

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

Life after shock

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

This city has no heroes

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

When the flood swept our homes

Fatemeh Behboudi
Project

Mourning for Hussein

Fatemeh Behboudi / iran
Project

Great Farewell

Fatemeh Behboudi / Tehran
Project

The last Fire

Fatemeh behboudi / Tehran
Project

Martyr is alive

Fatemeh behboudi / Tehran
Project

Myanmar-Transition to Future

Fatemeh Behboudi
Mothers of Patience by Fatemeh behboudi
Sign-up for
For more access