Citadel of Debauchery: what the red light district of Tehran looked like

Kaveh Golestan (1950-2003) was a documentary photographer and one of the pioneers of street photography. His works have served as an inspiration for many Iranian creative personalities.

Having started his career in 1972 with a report on the conflict in Northern Ireland for the newspaper "Kayhan", Kaveh after some time began working in the publication "Ayandegan", for which he covered the lives of ordinary Iranians. His works were shown at the exhibition "Prostitutes, workers and a hospital for mentally ill children" at the University of Tehran, which, however, was closed just a week later by the decision of the Iranian authorities. However, Kaveh reacted to such measures by posting all the same photos in the art gallery some time later, where they could be seen by the Dowager Empress of Iran Farah, who noted that the author of the photos "sees life very dark."

Photos of the events of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 were published in Time magazine. These images earned Kaveh the Robert Capa Gold Medal (annual award in the field of photojournalism) as requiring "exceptional courage and incredible enterprise"for their creation. But Kaveh was able to receive the award only after 13 years, when his pictures no longer posed any threat to the new Iranian government. Kaveh died in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2003 while reporting on the war for the BBC.

The area called the Citadel of Shahri-No before the revolution was nothing more than the Tehran red light district. The photos of Kaveh, which perfectly convey the atmosphere, allow us to get an idea of what the unknown side of the life of this Asian state looked like.