Amirali Ghasemi’s Coffee Shop Ladies is a series of documentary photos taken in Tehran’s most popular cafés, places which have become a symbol of social freedom in post-revolutionary Iran. Coffee shops are where the intelligentsia and splendidly motivated younger generation gather: a meeting place for journalists, artists and students. To protect the young ladies in his photographs, Ghasemi has blanked out their faces so that the media cannot misuse or manipulate their identities. Ladies are not supposed to hang around in public (or private) places with men who are not their husbands or close family. In many Iranian coffee shops and restaurants, you will often see the notice, Sisters wear your hijab properly and behave with modesty!

In contrast to the constant negative and prejudicial images of the international mass media, Ghasemi portrays the unseen social life of Tehran. In another series, Party, he reveals how young Iranians find loopholes in the system so that life, with great resilience, can carry on. Here too, Ghasemi tries to protect his subjects by erasing some pieces of information — anything associated with censorship, women’s rights, the hijab and Islam — and adding others.

In both Party and Coffee Shop Ladies, Ghasemi explores the different aspects of young Iranians’ social lives and reveals his adventure through the public spaces of the metropolis with refreshing energy and compassion.