TEHRAN – Iranian-Armenian photographer, and cultural heritage researcher Herbert Karim-Masihi is presenting a new exhibition titled “Iran Thinks of You” at the Sa’dabad Cultural-Historical Complex in northern Tehran.

The show gathers a selection of his long-term photographic projects on Iran’s ancient architecture, sacred sites, and historical landscapes, works created over years of travel through places such as Tchogha Zanbil, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Pasargadae, Persepolis, and the ancient city of Yazd, which is famed for its eye-catching windcatchers.

In a conversation with the Tehran Times on Thursday, he reflected on his artistic philosophy, the challenges of documenting cultural heritage, and what he hopes viewers take away from the exhibition. Below is excerpts of the interview in questions and answers:

The title of your exhibition, “Iran Thinks of You,” is poetic and contemplative. What message does it carry for viewers, and what does it mean to you personally?

 “Iran Thinks of You” is an attempt to recognize and re-present Iran as a unified and all-encompassing cultural landscape. It is a message that holds within itself a diversity of peoples, historical eras, religions, rituals, and sanctuaries.

The narrative behind the exhibition is, in truth, a story of thousands of different stories that ultimately converge in a single shared name: Iran.

For this reason, I have not identified the locations or titles for the exhibited photographs. The goal is not to point to a specific geography, but to emphasize the unity of this diversity under one name.

In this exhibition, everywhere is Iran. And it is Iran that is “thinking” of the viewer!

Your work features a number of iconic sites and monuments. How did you choose those locations, and what drew you to them?

By choosing sites such as Chogha Zanbil, Persepolis, the windcatchers of Yazd, and the country’s historic mosques and other places of worship, I tried to highlight the pillars that collectively shape Iran’s national identity. This has always been fundamental for me…. Their importance lies in the fact that many of the ritual practices and ways of life that emerged from these sites have persisted into modern times though we may not always recognize their deep historical roots.

In fact, through a single photograph, I try to reveal how contemporary floor plans, columns, architectural habits, and spatial structures remain connected to thousands of earlier narratives. These links show that modern life still stands on the shoulders of history.

Your prints seem to be presented with great precision and craftsmanship. What challenges do you face in photographing cultural heritage, and how do you aim to convey not only the visible reality but also the feeling and history behind it?

Heritage photography comes with many challenges. The first, and perhaps the most important concerns the photographer. It depends on how deeply the photographer understands the subject and what kind of relationship he or she forms with it.

When a photographer truly knows the subject, understands the its history and recognizes its significance today, then an honest and unembellished narrative becomes possible. This seems to be the one that speaks both to what once was and to why it has endured.

Alongside these conceptual challenges, there are also practical ones: the difficulty of obtaining [in-case necessary] permits, economic constraints, and the lack of sustained support from the related institutions. In fact, photographers, who work in the arena of cultural heritage, often work without financial backing, investing their own resources to record a heritage whose preservation is costly and often overlooked.

In the exhibition introduction, you wrote that architecture is not merely a building, but the continuation of human life through time. Can you elaborate on this idea and how it appears in your photography?

Iranian architecture, and architecture as a whole, is seems to be a product of climate and the surrounding nature. No architectural tradition can be understood without examining the ecological conditions that shaped it. In a cold climate, one uses entirely different forms and materials than in a hot one.

For example, in a sun-exposed region where shade and coolness are vital, no one would choose a stone that absorbs and intensifies heat. Conversely, in a cold region, clay and mud are insufficient because of their vulnerability to moisture. This is why stone plays such a central role in colder climates: it absorbs sunlight during the day and releases that warmth slowly at night. It is the intelligent negotiation between material and nature.

If we extend this logic to our own time, we realize that many of today’s technologies and building systems are imports [from outside to Iran] not designed for our landscape, nor adapted to it. Traditional Iranian architecture, however, was always grounded in a deep understanding of climate, environment, and the real needs of people.

To make it short, such a continuity between place, material, and human life is what I aim to reveal in my photographs.

 If there is only one message or experience you hope visitors take away from “Iran Thinks of You,” what would it be?

Thinking about Iran has been my greatest concern throughout all my years of photography. It has long been a concern that I have always wished to pass on to viewers. I want to remind them of the immense civilization we are heirs to.

But inheritance and in particular the cultural heritage of a nation is not only about possessing; it is about preserving, supporting, protecting, and advancing.

That is why the narrative of this exhibition begins inside the photographs themselves to invite viewers into the challenge of reflecting on what they have, what they are responsible for, what they are connected to, and what they must give meaning to.

As the final word I can say and repeat that one of my deepest hopes is that viewers can feel themselves inside the photographs: seeing them from their own perspective, not merely as spectators, but as part of the image.

“Iran Thinks of You” will remain open to the public at the Sa’dabad Complex until Dec. 21, offering visitors an opportunity to explore Iran’s architectural and cultural heritage through Karim-Masihi’s lens.

AM