Javad Parsa

Javad  Parsa 

I started photography when I was 18 years old. At the beginning I worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Sari, in Northern Iran, to earn some money to buy me a camera. In 2005 I began taking pictures for Fars News Agency in Iran after I met its picture editor by chance. I still remember that during that time I hardly knew how cameras worked. While I was shooting for them I used to experiment a lot and in those four intense years I ve always tried to find interesting ways to shoot the subject which I was interested in. I was born in a country, Iran, where real democracy is not existing. Even today there are two kind of journalists: the ones who work for the government and cannot be really called journalists and the others who hardly try to work as critical investigators of our society; the latter are unfortunately working under very complicated circumstances in a country ruled by a dictator. In 2005 I got a full-time position as photographer with the national government-controlled news-agency of Iran, in 2007 I was admitted to the Khabar University to study photography. My images were often banned by the government that did not like my personal vision of Iran. In 2009 during the public protests, after the so called Iranian elections, I was assigned by my agency to document the events. Some of my images were smuggled out of Iran and published by international magazines, one was choosen for the cover of the 29 june 2009 edition of Time Magazine. Within few days I had to leave Iran permanently since the government was trying to arrest me for my images published abroad. I had also to leave my studies behind. I have since lived in Turkey and in 2010 been living in Oslo, Norway. Now i’m working as a freelance photographer for Norwegian newspapers.My work has been published in numerous national and international publications including, the cover of Time magazine, “Iran vs. Iran”. The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, The Seattle Times, France’s Le Figaro, Paris Match, The Guardian, 6Mois, Colors Magazine, PRI's The World, Toronto star,  Amnesty International for the postcard series and others.

 I’m Now, documents exile Iranians all over the globe.. I traveled to Norway, Sweden, USA, Canada, Turkey, Macedonia, Greece, France, Spain and Israel.. I met generations of Iranian immigrants who shared the goal of a better life nurtured by social, political and religious freedom.