Hip-hop music, despite its many years of presence in Iranian society, has rarely been documented in a professional form. Usually, due to the restrictions in Iranian society, rappers as well as photographers who are interested in this style, refuse to record their lifestyle and publish it on the Internet, that’s the reason why hip-hop culture in Iran has professionally displayed less than other music styles for The audience. Aria Darvish, a 21-year-old photographer, has decided to start a long-term photo series in which he would show the lifestyles of artists, especially hip-hop artists, in their safe zones.
In this collection, Aria photographed rappers from his hometown, Ahwaz, and the circle of artists in this collection started to grow bigger and bigger with time. In this long-term series, called the “Portrait”, he is trying to communicate with the artists and show their lifestyle in the most realistic way possible. This collection, which started in 2020 and continues until 2025, consists of photos of rappers, fashion and fashion designers, artists of various fields, and YouTubers.
A part of this collection is Aria’s collaboration as a photographer with the “Yek Saat Ba Zir Zamin” team in the night show with Doosti and Chvrsi.
This event was the first Persian rap event in Iran with more than 400 tickets sold, and documenting this event with an analog camera will definitely help the hip-hop culture more visible in Iranian society.
In the photos of this event, like all the frames in this series, Aria seeks to show the culture of the artists, their style, and their way of looking at life. For example, in the first frame, Mehdi Chvrsi is preparing in the backstage, and he, who calls himself Soton-e Nakhl(palm column), evokes the palm trees of his hometown for the audience with his hands gesture. The fourth frame, taken from Arian Doosti’s shoes, generally shows Aria’s personal interest in fashion and especially sneakers cult. Also, the third frame of Ali Ismaili aka Nodism, and Meraj Naji, the producers of the program “Yek Saat Ba Zir Zamin”, behind the scene of the event perfectly shows their struggle to have a perfect performance.
This collection is generally a reflection of Aria’s life and interests in photography, fashion and personal style, and at the end of the work in 2025, this collection will be presented to the audience in the form of a photo book.
Photography by Aria Darvish , Night Show Yek Saat Ba Zirzamin , Guest Artist Chvrsi & Dousti