Form and narrative working together in this image of Giles Peress from the Iranian revolution

NARRATIVE

This is a documentary image showing people support to Ayatola Khomeini in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. In the image women predominate. There are just to men on the stairs. Women don’t pay attention to them. They are actually looking at viewers. I suppose something important was happening in fron of them at that direction. A woman is by the back also looking in front. She appears to be hiding.

This image narrative is definitely enriched by knowing basic facts of the Iranian

Revolution such as the essential role of women for the Komheini to be able to take the power and the fact that demonstrations were very powerful in that historical period a significant percentage of the Iranian population participated in demonstrations.

The image is the cover of the book Telex Iran. In the name of the Revolution. It is called this way because the pictures are punctuated by telexes that make up a parallel story of communications to and from Peress (in Iran) with lab technicians and his Magnum photography agency offices in New York and Paris. (http://www.artsmia.org) In the Magnum site, this book is described as a personal document of the event where American Hostages where held. Peress spent 5 weeks in Iran. We can see by this image and the ones included in the module that he was doing a lyrical documentary, more than just the traditional documentary of events. FORM

This image is balanced by sharpening. The huge group of women have a heavy weight in the image but the shapes of the women at the front and the soldier balance the composition, especially the woman who is centered and is looking directly to the viewer. Emphasis is reached by contrast, overall the composition. However, there are many ways to reach emphasis. The image can be seen several times to see many details. There is emphasis by color: the black color of women outfit. There is emphasis by placement, the women centered in the front, with the soldier in the back and the other woman in the first plane. There is also emphasis in the woman hiding. This is reached by isolation and scale. Her size is that small that calls attention. The woman using glasses is noticeable by her position and glasses. Women using clearer colors are emphasized by the color and isolation, the contrast between the dominant black and their color of her outfit. The soldier legs on the central upper part are also a kind of emphasis by the isolation and the contrast of figure and gender. We see just heads and in his case, we see legs. There is also a contrast of gender. We need to apply a Gestalt strategy to complete his body, the law of good continuation. (Freeman, 2007).

While we may think that is there are many elements emphasized and there is a

lack of emphasis, this image is very complex and shows a very smart way to create visual tension by the contrast of the scale of women and the grouping strategy. We have women all around, they are closed together (proximity) and are similar. But we also have lines playing an essential role of lines in creating dynamic tension. There are different kind of lines: the look of women directly to viewers work as psychic lines; the actual lines and linear shapes; the stairs are horizontal lines that give shape to the rectangles. There is also a perpendicular line that function to separate women. Since the line is perpendicular it creates tension. Lines have a very hard quality that contrast with the human bodies of women. Repetition is clear too, of course, repetition of woman in different scales and the scalators of the stair. Women give visual unity to the image. Lights appears to be a little flat and this gives the huge group of women a sense of being just one thing, it is like they are at the same spot. It is the stair that gives us the information on perspective and deep of field. This, in my opinion, creates an equivocal space. There is also a high contrast on tones with half of the image in almost pure black, some White and also gray.

INTERPRETATION. FORM AND NARRATIVE. CONCLUSIONS. By the use of psychic lines women are all looking at front, at us. They are seeing

something we don’t know or understand. Their looks are very powerful. They are angry, strong women. Are they questioning us? Asking us to do something? This creates a division between these women and us. It is interesting that this distance make us feel close to the image. It is like we are participating in the image by being kicked of from it. We are required to be more than simple viewers contemplating. We are inquired to have a reaction.

In this image, form and narrative work together to emphasized the role of women in the revolution. They are many, men are a few. Men or the army can’t control this empowered group of women. They are not afraid. It is interesting that anyway they are segregated by a hard perpendicular line formed by the stairs that for me could be related to the system structure. This narrative could also be symbolic since it is not about the demonstration itself bout about the revolution and the role of women.

These are more images from Peress, and I found many were women are emphasized.

However, reading this image many years later is somehow ironic. Women had

more rights before the revolution than after. It is interesting that by reading the context of the revolution, we also can see the power of Islam, a conservative movement since the Islam outfit represents religion.

SOURCES: IMPORTANT NOTE: For encyclopedic information aobut the Iranian Revolution, I considered correct using Wikipedia since it can be trusted as a Encylopedia. This has been proven in different studies.

Wikipedia Entries: Iranian Revolution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution Women rights in Iran. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights_in_Iran Ayres, S. Nature of Photography. Modules 1 to 7. Freeman, M. (2007) The Photographer’s Eye. USA: Focal Press. Get the Picture. Peress. http://www.artsmia.org/get-the-picture/print/peress.shtml Gilles Peress. Mangum in photos. http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R13C92L&nm=Gilles%20Peress