THERAN -- The Iranian Photographers Center (IPC) is ready to preserve the late Bahman Jalali’s photo collection he reproduced on the Qajar era.

Jalali was mostly famous for the photomontages of Qajar era negatives. A number of his works in this genre were published in his book “The Revealed Treasure”.
Veteran Iranian photographer Bahman Jalali died at 65 in Tehran on Friday evening. Jalali was informed of his illness, pancreatic cancer, early last month. He left to Germany for treatment and returned home Thursday and the next day Friday, Jalali died in his home.
IPC director Rasul Oliyazadeh is convinced that Jalali played a major role in introducing Iranian photography to the world and that he was active in holding photo exhibits in Iran and other countries.
“The center will do its best to preserve the Qajar photo archive for the next generation,” Oliyazadeh stated.
Jalali was the one who narrated the first days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 with his camera and later registered the events of the Iran-Iraq war and the occupation of Khorramshahr.
His collection of Bushehr in southern Iran, the deserts in central Iran and his photomontages of Qajar era negatives are other photo narratives by the artist.
Austrian Kunsthaus Graz or Graz Art Museum held a retrospective of Jalali last year in which over one hundred photos, spanning 30 years of Jalali’s work, including photos depicting the Iran-Iraq war, architectural styles in Iran’s deserts, various Iranian ethnic groups, and a collection of his red, brown, black and white images went on display at the museum.
“My maximum pleasure in life comes from the time others spend with me as we enjoy looking at photos I have taken,” he had once declared.
“I can not take photos easily these day. Perhaps when we were younger and were beginners, we took photos more easily. Unfortunately we became accustomed to technical jargon and this ruined the honesty between us and our cameras,” he had mentioned.
Photos of peace, war, revolution, and even those who posed for the photos like the fishermen are the shadows Jalali made from the truth, and his camera was always kind to them.
Jalali was born in 1944 in Tehran and was a graduate with a degree in economics and political science. He collaborated with the French photo press agency SIPA after the Iran-Iraq war, but soon left to pursue his own interests in documentary photography.
In 1977, he began with a photo collection of Iran’s mud houses in the deserts. He introduced this collection at the University of Hamburg 10 years ago and later in Barcelona and Austria.
Afterwards, his collection went on display at Tehran’s Rah-e Abrisham Gallery (Silk Road Gallery).
It was last year when Jalali and the Silk Road Gallery founder arranged an exhibit entitled “165 years of Iranian photography” at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris.
Jalali will always be remembered in our hearts and minds. His funeral procession will begin Sunday morning in front of the Iranian Artists Forum located on Musavi St., Taleqani Ave. He will be buried in the Artists Section of Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery.
Photo: A Qajar photomontage by Bahman Jalali