Newsha Tavakolian, journalist and photographer, was born in Tehran. In addition to photojournalism, she records semi-documentary images of the life of the urban middle class with her camera. Tavakolian started photography as self-taught at 16 and collaborated with Zan magazine. Later, she expanded her cooperation circle with publications inside and outside the country. From the 2000s, her works reached international circles and were published in prestigious publications such as New York Times, Time, National Geographic, Stern, and Figaro. In 2006, Tavakolian won the "Still Photography" award for the "All Roads" project. A year after that, she was among the finalists of the "Inge Morath" award of Magnum Photo Agency. Other significant awards, such as the "Prince Claus" award (2015) and the "Best Photo" award (2016), and the international "Hall of Fame" photography award (2017), can be seen in the career of this artist. Thomas Urban Gallery in New York and Art Dubai also exhibited Tavakolian's photos in the late 2000s. Tavakolian has cooperated with this photography agency since 2018 as one of Magnum's leading photographers.
Some of Tavakolian's photos link two fields of photography art that are considered opposite at first glance. On the one hand, her photos have a referential look at the corners of the personal life of the urban middle class and are supposed to have a faithful and objective image of the facts of her subject, which originates from Tavakolian's press background. On the other hand, she approaches staged photography with aesthetic interventions through the arrangement of elements, mise-en-scène, poses, lighting, and color correction of the images of these posts. In any case, the coordinates of these aesthetic interventions and the desire to beautify are compatible with the class tastes of its subjects, so it does not weaken the reference aspect of these photos but may strengthen it.
Her photos in her other periods of photography, such as "I am Eve" or "Listen," have a more social aspect and are mixed with her issues and concerns about women's issues (identity, hijab, rights, etc.). Women have a key and prominent presence in other collections of this artist, such as "Mothers of Martyrs" and "Women in the Axis of Evil." She also has a creative experience in the field of video art. We can mention "Immaterial" and "For the sake of peace."