Naser al-Din, the longest reigning shah of the Qajar Dynasty, was known to be one of the great patrons of photography in Persia. After bringing one of the first cameras to Iran, he proceeded to photograph his family members, attendants, pets, even himself, with commendable zeal. Three court photographers and a fully functioning photo studio were all established under his rule. Iran’s extraordinarily rich photographic tradition thrived.

Tehran-based artist Shadi Ghadirian is one of the many Iranian photographers who continues to draw from the strong tradition of image making that Naser al-Din helped build. She was only a student at the University of Azad when she came across 19th-century studio portraits of women and men from the Qajar era—several of which