TEHRAN -- Fame has turned into a problem for Iranian actress-turned-photographer Hedyeh Tehrani in her exhibition underway at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran as she says she will never again hold an exhibition in Iran.

Tehrani’s exhibit has not been as well received as expected due to accusations by a number of Iranian photographers that Tehrani is exploiting her celebrity status to promote her photography.
A group of renowned Iranian cineastes and artists, including Abbas Kiarostami, Tahmineh Milani, Marzieh Borumand, Seifollah Samadian, and Habib Rezaii, were seen among the visitors after the exhibition opened on December 9.
In addition, a large number of ordinary people came to see Tehrani herself rather than to visit her exhibit, which focused on water and sea.
“Regardless of my name, I am a human being who wants to share with others what she has observed and explored in nature over the past few years,” she said in press conference on Monday.
“The exhibition earns me no profit and I only wanted to celebrate nature,” she added.
“Every one of us is infected with the pressures of modern life, which takes away the opportunity to enjoy the beauties of a tree, a panorama of the sea and all the numerous details existing around us,” she explained.
Tehrani was frequently bothered by questions about the superstar’s celebrity status during the press conference.
“I didn’t take photographs with the idea of using my name to market them. It exists and I don’t know what to do about it… This large magnifying glass that makes Hedyeh Tehrani bigger than life is in the hands of the public, but I ask you not to judge my photos based on my name,” she said.
Tehrani is determined to pursue her photography career, but has decided not to show her work in Iran because of the strange welcome she received in this exhibition.
She has received proposals asking her to hold the exhibition in London, New York, and several other countries.
“In other countries, I am first seen as an individual photographer trying to depict her insights and then as the actress Hedyeh Tehrani,” she lamented.
Tehrani took out a loan of 2.2 billion rials (over $220,000) to hold the exhibition, but said that the total revenue for the past week won’t cover the loan.
A photo priced at 80 million rials (over $8,000) is the most expensive work at the exhibition, which runs until December 18.