The 1990 Manjil Rudbar earthquake, a catastrophic 60 second event, claimed approximately 60,000 lives and left 400,000 Iranians homeless. My family was deeply affected as my mother lost nearly her entire immediate family, including her parents. She could never bring herself to revisit their family albums again. However, born just a year after the disaster, I grew curious about the faces preserved in those photographs. In this project, I document survivors and the untamed, resilient landscapes of Manjil through photography. My aim is to capture the sublime beauty of nature’s enduring power, interweaving personal narratives with the land itself. Through these stories, a truth emerges: life and nature persist despite human fragility. People continue to rebuild, while the earth slowly reclaims the ruins of shattered homes.
