This projects looks at some of the subtleties in the environment of diaspora and the network that is built by the women who make them. By leaving their own mothers behind they give a new life to the daughters they bring into the world.

These photos represent the small details of Iranian life that exists in homes away from home.
The things that have traveled with people and the things people do to make them- selves feel close to the places and people they left behind.

When I consider with great detail the things that have shaped who I am today, as a woman and as an Iranian - it exists in the history, traditions rituals and language of Iran but also, in a more personal way, in the afternoons spent with my mum and aunties gathered around the kitchen table, chatting away while they colour their hair and drink tea.

This atmosphere of collective female nurture has been a consistent theme in my life and one that has empowered me as a woman more so than anything else I have come in contact with regarding the subject.

The way women take care of each other and build a network around each other. The traditions that they maintain and the memories and nostalgia they share. The pain they carry and the pain they hide. And the myriad of cultural detail that can be found from an afternoon in the kitchen. This all contributes towards a female identity and a cultural identity of Iran that is close to my heart and represents the experience of being Iranian in the UK.

By Keymea Yazdanian 

(All shot on 35mm Film)