These two photographs belong to a series of "portraits" by Shadi Ghadirian, a contemporary Iranian artist, who was inspired by the type of studio portraiture first introduced to Iran in the late nineteenth century, under the Qajar dynasty (1794-1925). In order to recreate the earlier setting, Ghadirian employed appropriately painted backdrops and dressed models and friends in borrowed vintage clothes. She adds modern anomalies to these traditional scenes by posing the model with a Pepsi can, a boom box, a vacuum cleaner, or as in these images, a bicycle or an avant-garde Tehran newspaper.

Women and their role in present-day Iran are a focal point of Ghadirian's work. She has said that while "being a woman in Iran is tough… being a photographer in Iran is tougher." In electing to concentrate on women she has chosen, perhaps, one of the most difficult subjects, as all images of women in the Islamic Republic of Iran must be shown attired in hijab regardless of context. Ghadirian has transformed this seeming constraint into the very theme of her images, not only in her "Qajar" series but in a subsequent group entitled "Like Everyday." In this later series the Iranian chador, as much a symbol as a garment, becomes the focus of each of the photos; but these are disembodied chadors and where the face would be is instead a household utensil, a teapot, an iron, a broom, and so forth. Although based in contemporary Iranian society, Ghadirian's photographic compositions have a universal appeal that transcends cultural distinctions.

View the complete record and details of these works in Collections Online: Girl with newspaper, Girl with bicycle.