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Riding in Silence & The Crying Dervish
Riding in Silence draws from the depths of my family history, unraveling the echoes of migration, forced departures, and the quiet endurance of those caught between worlds. The series builds on my previous work, Freedom is Not Free (2021), where I explored the role of women in movements of resistance across the MENA region. However, in this latest series, I turns towards the intersection of masculinity, political ideology, and displacement, examining how historical forces shape personal narratives in ways both visible and unseen.
The tension between imposed identity and self-definition is at the heart of my exploration of masculinity. Through visual and textual fragments, I examine how masculinity has been shaped by war, colonialism, nationalism, and the rigid structures of religious ideology. The project traces how manhood has been weaponized, used as a tool to uphold power structures, and at times, violently policed. Through the lens of my father’s memories, we see how even the simplest acts—refusing to recite a prayer, seeking refuge, losing a homeland—become acts of quiet defiance.
This is not just a historical inquiry; it is a deeply personal one. The mind does not work in a linear way, neither do my sequences. There are no easy answers; let's deal with the discomfort of contradiction, let's recognize that resistance does not always look like rebellion, and that exile is both a state of being and a psychological inheritance.
The tension between imposed identity and self-definition is at the heart of my exploration of masculinity. Through visual and textual fragments, I examine how masculinity has been shaped by war, colonialism, nationalism, and the rigid structures of religious ideology. The project traces how manhood has been weaponized, used as a tool to uphold power structures, and at times, violently policed. Through the lens of my father’s memories, we see how even the simplest acts—refusing to recite a prayer, seeking refuge, losing a homeland—become acts of quiet defiance.
This is not just a historical inquiry; it is a deeply personal one. The mind does not work in a linear way, neither do my sequences. There are no easy answers; let's deal with the discomfort of contradiction, let's recognize that resistance does not always look like rebellion, and that exile is both a state of being and a psychological inheritance.
Freedom is Not Free
In Freedom Is Not Free (2021), Mohadjerin blends her research on female resistance fighters in the Middle East with the personal history of her own family. She explores the narratives of five generations of women, beginning with her maternal grandmother. In 2019, she returns to her country of birth, capturing the daily lives of family and friends through her lens. The lasting effects of the Revolution resonate deeply in her photographs, making its impact feel palpable even after all these years. Personal archives and historical documents are reimagined as intricate collages. Using her family’s story as a foundation, Mohadjerin highlights how successive generations of women continue to fight for freedom.
Lipstick & Gas Masks
Uprisings start with a calling, desperation, a mixture of hope and anger that makes your heart race and your voice rise. A limit is reached. Energized and determined, ordinary people rise up to display their collective dissent.
In the recent uprisings that started in Tunisia, surged to Egypt, then swept through other parts of the Middle East, women played an important role, standing alongside their male counterparts.
Coming from different ideological and social backgrounds, the women portrayed in this series defy stereotypes. Spirited, idealistic, courageous, and resolute, they led or instigated revolutionary acts in their respective countries.
In the recent uprisings that started in Tunisia, surged to Egypt, then swept through other parts of the Middle East, women played an important role, standing alongside their male counterparts.
Coming from different ideological and social backgrounds, the women portrayed in this series defy stereotypes. Spirited, idealistic, courageous, and resolute, they led or instigated revolutionary acts in their respective countries.
Indigenous Youth (Oklohoma)
Keith greets me with a big smile in the living room of the house he shares with his mother and sister. He's wearing a striped shirt that reveals his muscular arms. Keith has just returned from a morning shift at a local farm. He recently graduated and is saving up for a trip to California with his best friend. Keith's real name is We-Shi-Ge-Shum Longhorn Jr. His father is a Shawnee tribe member and taught him traditional customs, life wisdom, and rituals from an early age. His mother, like many Native Americans in the region, is a devout Christian who no longer follows traditional customs so closely. When asked if their two different upbringings (his parents are now divorced) contradict each other, Keith says he can perfectly reconcile them. He incorporates Christian symbols into his traditional clothing and says his Christian prayers while passionately performing traditional dances.
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(excerpt from the full text)
Home Sweet Home
Following in the tracks of thousands of Belgian-Moroccan migrants who travel to their families in the summers we embarked on a journey to the south.
Staring at the changing landscapes, talking to fellow travellers and finally across the ocean.
On assignment for the RSL migration museum’s summer exhibition takes us along to dream with many migrants who left their homes but are able to revisit each year.
We listened to their stories and made portraits that were shown alongside these images, later to be archived and remembered.
Staring at the changing landscapes, talking to fellow travellers and finally across the ocean.
On assignment for the RSL migration museum’s summer exhibition takes us along to dream with many migrants who left their homes but are able to revisit each year.
We listened to their stories and made portraits that were shown alongside these images, later to be archived and remembered.
Her work weaves personal narratives with far-reaching political events, such as the 1979 Iranian Revolution, whose reverberations are still felt today. Mohadjerin places her own family stories against the backdrop of a broader history of the Middle East, in search of subtle nuances hidden behind the spectacular and the familiar.
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