on being happy in iran

I traveled to Iran this summer to embark on a long overdue tour of my homeland. I went back to see family every few years but it had been 15 years since I last saw the remainders of the Persian empire that continued to fuel our nationalist pride. Three days before I left a story broke on the news about a group of people in Tehran who had been arrested and interrogated for creating a music video for the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. It was a standard Internet craze. Nations all over the world had taken part in it. But Iran was the only one to arrest its participants like they were criminals, making them confess and repent on national TV. The glimmering promise of a welcome home suddenly disappeared from view. I wondered if people in Iran could ever be happy when their regime had control over their every move.

 

I decided while I was still in the States that I would create a photo essay, one with pictures showing someone listening to the song “Happy” all over Iran, but in their headphones. It felt like a form of private resistance. I didn’t want the western news and media to win over me again. The first world view that we had it best, and that the rest of the world was clearly less fortunate than us was the easiest perspective to take, but I tried to avoid it. This is a story on being happy in Iran.