EBRAHIM NOROOZI
Ebrahim Noroozi is an Iranian photographer born in Tehran in 1980. Noroozi began his career in 2004 with a focus in News and Documentary photography, working at Fars News Agency. Among several other prestigious awards, Noroozi has won three World Press Awards in 2012 and 2013, first place in Nikon Photo Contest 2013, and first place in Lucie Awards in 2013. Eugene Smith Grant named him in the 'Top Ten Photographers' of 2013, and in 2016, his photograph was picked for Time's 'Top 100 Photos of the Year'. Noroozi lives and works in Tehran and also has worked in India and Afghanistan. He has been a member of jury in several Iranian photo contests.
MOURNERS series, Ebrahim Noroozi 2011-2012
This collection was awarded 2013 World Press Photo contest, Staged Portraits, Stories, 2nd prize
“Mourning is prompted by an eternal/permanent feeling: loss.
Some veiled women, with sealed lips in silence, move from house to house and light candles. A bit further, men clad in mourning clothes and with muddy make-up beat themselves, lamenting and groaning. They find themselves separated from their everyday life and strangers to themselves and others, to unite with the One. This is the moment the photo materialises.”
Mourners looks at the observance of mourning, with men covering themselves in mud as a sign of bereavement, in memory of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein in the rite of Gel- Giran in Bijar, Kurdistan. The series includes the all- feminine tradition of “Chehel-Menbar”. One in silence and the other in roaring. Women who resort to candles and men who resort to mud.
