Happy birthday

The age of 40 years old…
It is not the beginning or end of anything, it is just a period of time during life to pause for a moment and review the past and imagine the future.
40 years old is not the symbol of political or social maturity in a newly founded ideology raised from the Middle East, it is mostly the commencement of an apparent transformation in which the charismatic characters of the past are gradually being replaced with others, the others which are tangible for us and we can discover ourselves through them.
To me, 40 years old is the wane of youth and emotional feelings, a beginning to see and think differently!
The coincidence of my 40-year-old birthday and the Islamic Revolution in Iran made me motivated to have a look at the common past between me and this government.
This photo collection is the same pause on the path which has been already passed, with a mandatory part and an apparently optional part.
The 40 years have been affected by different individuals who had various ideologies or social or artistic experiences. The Revolution, people and I have been all affected by these individuals, whether we like their strategies, ideas, policies, etc., or not.
The hidden aspect of such effect and the unknown influential individuals might become apparent by the passage of time.
On my 40-year-old birthday, I was not awaiting to receive any phone calls or messages from anyone. On that day, I was just attempting to discover myself. I should have formed my thoughts and previous experiences, like giving birth to a baby. So, I switched off my cell phone, and exactly on that day, I created my 40-yeard-old child. This is the 40-year-old frame of me and this Islamic Revolution; an experience in which each character has a different color and shape. However, they are not far from each other.