“My name is Mahboube Karamli. I’m a photographer based in Tehran, and for over ten years, my work has focused on the lives of women especially the quiet, in-between moments that often go unnoticed. I photograph intimate, personal spaces like bedrooms, classrooms, and wedding rooms settings where women can momentarily be themselves.

Projects such as Girls, Wakefulness, and HappyVille explore how young women in Iran navigate expectations, create meaning in private, and express themselves in subtle, powerful ways. I’m drawn to themes of identity, silence, transition, and emotional complexity. Photography, to me, is more than documentation, it’s an act of care and listening. I spend time with the people I photograph, often over long periods, to build trust. That slowness matters. It lets something real emerge.

What I try to offer through my work is not a spectacle, but a form of attention one that honors the quiet strength found in everyday moments.”

Mahboube Karamli (b. 1985, Tehran) is a Tehran-based photographer whose work focuses on the intimate, often unseen moments of women’s lives. With a poetic and subtle approach, she explores themes of identity, privacy, and transition. She holds an MA in Photography from the University of Art, Tehran (2021), and a BA in Photography from Azad University of Art and Architecture (2008).

Karamli regularly exhibits in Tehran and has participated in international group exhibitions throughout the US, UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Kuwait, the UAE, and Turkey. Her work has also been featured in various books and magazines worldwide.

https://www.instagram.com/mahboubekaramli/?hl=en

🗓️  Mittwoch, 18. Juni 2025, ab 16:00 Uhr (CET)

📍  Online only per Webex:

https://fh-dortmund.webex.com/meet/samaneh.khosravi

Meeting-Number: 2734 116 7768

Moderated by Samaneh Khosravi, M.A.