Ashkan Shabani
Tehran Province, Iran
I'm a self-educated photographer and visual storyteller based in Turkey. When I was a teenager I started photography by taking family pictures.
In 2016, I started working as a photographer for a local news agency called DiyarMirza which led me to work with the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) in 2017.
Since then I have covered stories such as the Iran presidential election, the Kermanshah earthquake, the 2018 and 2019 floods in Iran for ISNA.
Over the years, my focus shifted away from journalistic photography to documentary photography.
As a photographer, I explore social questions and human rights in the Middle East. Now I am represented by Redux Pictures Agency.
- Arts
- Audio capture
- Breaking news
- Corporate
- Crisis
- Events
- Interview
- Portrait
- Reporting
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Ashkan Shabani
A self-portrait of Ashkan. The photographer is part of the LGBTQ+ community himself. Ashkan was a closeted gay for almost 13 years until his parents found out and kicked him out of their home. Ashkan has been disowned by his family, and threatened with rape and death. He had to escape his country for the safety of his life.
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Ashkan Shabani
Muhammad, 28, and Amir Ali, 27 (Names have been changed to protect their identities) are a gay couple who have been living together for about six years in secret in Tehran. Based on the laws of Sharia they risk execution for their sexual orientation.
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Ashkan Shabani
Muhammad and Amir Ali live in a 60-meter rental house in Tehran. They have to hide the true nature of their relationship, and even told the landlord that they are cousins in order to rent the house. Last month they were forced to move to a new house because their previous landlord found out about their relationship and threatened to inform the police.
