Fifty-three People
2021 – 10.5 x 14.5 cm – Unlimited Edition – 53 Images from the Tower of Museum of Qasr Prison
In this book, I asked, collected, and printed 53 drawings of different people (artists and nonartists) of the tower of the Museum of Qasr Prison, from one point of view. This particular tower used to be a watchtower of a decommissioned prison, which has been recently transformed into a public park and museum.
The name of the book refers to a novel written by a famous author (Bozorg Alavi) and published in 1950. In 1937 Alavi along with a group of 52 other people, were arrested and accused of plotting against the government. All were sentenced to serve time at Qasr prison.
The place on the other hand was interesting for me. Qasr was originally built in 1790 as a palace, in the Qajar Dynasty. Then in 1929, it was repurposed as a prison. and today it has been turned into a museum and a public park which carries the same name. “Qasr” in Farsi means Palace.
The specific viewpoint in the drawings of this book is the view from the opening of my previous studio,