Gilles Peress: Telex Iran – A Photographic Journey Through the Iranian Revolution

This feature reviews the photobook 'Telex Iran' by Magnum photographer Gilles Peress, offering a layered and nuanced view of Iranian society and the 1979 revolution. The work moves beyond dominant media narratives to reveal the country's fragmentation and continuous formation through diverse images and non-linear structures.

The article delves into Gilles Peress's influential photobook 'Telex Iran,' a critical documentation of the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath, photographed in late 1979 and early 1980. Peress deliberately avoids reducing the complex events to singular narratives, such as the US Embassy hostage crisis which dominated Western coverage. Instead, his images traverse various locales and social strata, capturing frictions between institutions, memories, loyalties, media, class, and state violence. The book's non-linear and multivocal structure reinforces this approach, presenting overlapping realities that resist singular interpretation and highlighting Iran as a nation continuously in formation. The piece further contextualizes 'Telex Iran' in relation to contemporary media framing of Iran, arguing that Peress's work offers a vital counterpoint to simplified portrayals of threat and geopolitical danger. By revealing the interconnectedness of events, institutions, infrastructures, and historical processes, Peress demonstrates that no single act or actor stands alone. The enduring power of 'Telex Iran' lies in its capacity to break the assumption of a unified national voice, redirecting attention to the complex assembly of situations and challenging the simplified images prevalent during times of conflict.