The “Childhood” series is a journey into the heart of the worn-out alleys and back alleys of Farahzad; a geography on the outskirts of Tehran where, among the cracked walls and forgotten houses, a living world full of life beats. In this place, children create their world without any worries, freely and with curiosity, together, as they should, in the shade of the soil and the sun. These images, beyond recording moments, are an attempt to narrate life, to hear the laughter and screams of their play, to see the unadulterated joys and runs and stops, to touch hopes and friendships. All of these are micro-narratives of a small and at the same time huge world, a world that they recreate every day with their imagination. These photographs do not seek to merely represent poverty or marginalization, but rather show the simple moments of children’s lives within the context of limitations; pure moments whose value lies in their simplicity and immediacy; in a brief laugh, in collective games, and in a look full of hope. This collection is an invitation to revisit the initial moments of life that, with all their simplicity, define the world in a different way. Ultimately, “Childhood” is a reminder of a simple and forgotten truth that even in the simplest and smallest contexts, there is the ability to create a world full of hope and meaning in the heart of absence.
