Keeping True to an Iranian Vision, Minus Big Money

Newsha Tavakolian returned a 50,000-euro prize rather than see her work about contemporary Iran be controlled — distorted, she says — by the financier whose foundation selected her.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/keeping-true-to-an-iranian-vision-minus-big-money/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

“I had to make a choice between my artistic freedom and my dignity, or the glory of something that is not real or not mine when it comes to what kind of book do I have,” Ms. Tavakolian said in a phone interview from Tehran. “This is a universal subject, not just about Iran. It is a subject all photographers are facing, but they do not talk about it. This is the only thing I have. It’s my vision, my artistic freedom.”