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Hoda Afshar
Hoda Afshar.jpg
Born 1983 (age 41–42)
Tehran
Nationality Iranian
Known for documentary photography
Notable work
 Remain (2018)
Awards National Photographic Portrait Prize (2015), Bowness Photography Prize (2018)

Hoda Afshar (born in 1983) is a talented Iranian photographer. She is known for her documentary photography, which means she takes pictures that tell real stories. Hoda lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.

She is famous for her 2018 portrait of Kurdish-Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani. He was held in a special center on Manus Island by the Australian government. Hoda's work has been shown in many art shows. Her photos are also kept in important art collections across Australia.

Since 2019, Hoda Afshar has been teaching photography. She teaches at the Victorian College of the Arts and the Photography Studies College in Melbourne.

Early Life and Education

Hoda Afshar by Hoda Afshar
Hoda Afshar, photographed by herself.

Hoda Afshar was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1983. This was four years after the Iranian Revolution.

When she was younger, Hoda wanted to study theater and become an actor. However, she was given her second choice at university, which was photography. She earned a special degree in fine art photography from the Azad University of Art and Architecture in Tehran. While studying, she took many photos of her friends' theater shows. This helped her realize that photography could also be like telling a story on a stage.

Her Photography Work

Hoda's first big project was in 2005. It was a series of black and white photos called Scene. These pictures showed underground parties in Tehran. However, she could not show them to the public. From 2005 to 2006, Hoda worked as a photojournalist for a newspaper in Tehran called Hamvatan. This meant she took photos for news stories.

She moved to Australia in 2007. There, she continued her studies in photography. From 2013 to 2021, Hoda also taught at the Photography Studies College in Melbourne.

Important Projects and Exhibitions

Her first solo art show was called Behold in 2017. It was held at the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne.

Hoda Afshar's video project, Remain (2018), is very well-known. It includes spoken poems by Kurdish-Iranian refugee Behrouz Boochani. Hoda calls her style "staged documentary." This means she helps people tell their own stories. The men in her video were able to act out their experiences. This gave them control over how their stories were shared. The video was shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney. One of the photos of Behrouz Boochani from this project won the Bowness Photography Prize. Many of these portraits are now kept at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

In 2019, Hoda finished her advanced degree (PhD) in creative arts. Her research focused on how Islamic female identity is shown in images.

Behrouz Boochani by Hoda Afshar
A portrait of Behrouz Boochani by Hoda Afshar.

Hoda Afshar was featured on an ABC Television program called Compass in 2019. This show tells stories about people's lives.

Her book Speak the Wind (2021) shows the landscapes and people of islands in the Persian Gulf. These islands are Hormuz, Qeshm, and Hengam. Hoda visited these places often and learned about their history from the people living there. She said their stories guided her project. She explored how people can be affected by their past, including difficult historical events.

In March 2021, Hoda had an exhibition called Agonistes. It showed portraits of nine whistleblowers. These are people who speak out about wrongdoing. The exhibition was held at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne in Melbourne. The name Agonistes comes from a Greek word meaning someone in a struggle.

From September 2023 to January 2024, the Art Gallery of New South Wales held a big exhibition of Hoda's work. It was called A Curve is a Broken Line. It included some of her older works. It also featured a new series of 12 large photographs called In Turn. These photos showed four Iranian Australian women braiding each other's hair. They also held and then released a white dove. This was inspired by a ritual of Kurdish female fighters. The photographs were a response to the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini in Iran in September 2022. A book with the same name was also published.

Hoda Afshar is also a board member of the Centre for Contemporary Photography.

Her Artistic Style

Hoda Afshar believes that photographs can be used in different ways by powerful systems. She thinks that documentary photography has been shaped by how people used to explore and take over new lands. Her early understanding of photography as a form of theater is important to her work. She works with the people she photographs, seeing them as "actors." This way, they have a say in how their stories are told.

Awards and Recognition

Hoda Afshar has won many awards for her photography:

  • National Photographic Portrait Prize (2015), for her photo Portrait of Ali.
  • Sotheby's Australia People's Choice Award (2018), for Portrait of Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island.
  • Bowness Photography Prize (2018), also for Portrait of Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island.
  • Ramsay Art Prize (2021), People's Choice Prize, for Agonistes.
  • Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship (2021), a special award given to creative people.

Selected Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

Collections

Hoda Afshar's work is part of the permanent collections in many art galleries and museums:

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