“The Lights in the City” is a photo series about people’s hopes that shine in the darkness of the city—hopes that exist alone or together.
Nothing compares to the glow of these hopes; they illuminate homes and cars like stars in the night sky. Each person carries many hopes, some brighter than others, and holds onto them every day while living within this darkness.
In this series, she creates holes in her photographs, captured in her city during the evening, and then re-photographs them by introducing light from behind.
About Mahdiyeh Afshar Bakeshloo
Mahdiyeh Afshar Bakeshloo is an Iranian fine art and conceptual photographer based in Tehran. Her artistic journey began in 2014 with two years of academic training in photography, and she has since developed a distinct personal style that centres on expressing complex human emotions through visual narratives.
Afshar’s work focuses on the inner emotional world—feelings such as sadness, confusion, and solitude—which she visualises through minimalistic compositions, often using the human body in contrast with inanimate, everyday objects. Her black-and-white single-frame images are characterised by symbolic depth, emotional clarity, and poetic ambiguity. Each piece is a visual translation of emotions that are difficult to articulate—feelings we sense but cannot express.
She explains that each of her projects explores human emotions such as sadness, loneliness, and confusion, aiming to help viewers connect with their hidden feelings. Her personal emotions shape the direction of her work, and she seeks to create a shared visual dialogue with the viewer.
Afshar’s photographs have been featured in numerous international publications, including the British Journal of Photography, F-Stop Magazine, Fraction Magazine, The Eye of Photography, and Suboart Magazine, which also published an in-depth interview with her in 2023. Her shortlisted image for Portrait of Humanity Vol. 5 was published by the British Journal of Photography and covered by The Times.
She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions in Iran, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Greece, Italy, and Romania. Her photography has received multiple honours and nominations from prestigious international awards such as the International Photography Awards (IPA), Monochrome Photography Awards, Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA), Neutral Density Awards (ND Awards), and the Black & White Spider Awards.
Her visual language reflects a sensitive and personal engagement with the world around her, which she describes as “photographs taken from the inside out.” By integrating her surroundings with introspective emotions, she invites the viewer into a silent yet powerful exchange.
Mahdiyeh Afshar Bakeshloo’s work is rooted in fine art and conceptual photography and is known for its distinctive use of black-and-white imagery. Her visual language draws from surrealism and emotional minimalism, exploring psychological themes such as isolation, identity, and internal conflict.
Through symbolic objects such as apples, cloth, or thread, she constructs metaphorical narratives that blur the boundary between reality and dream. Her use of the human body—often faceless, abstracted, or merged with everyday objects—reflects a sense of fragmentation and emotional ambiguity. Each photograph stands as a visual poem, built on negative space, stark contrasts, and restrained composition. Faces are often hidden or veiled, creating a more universal emotional connection for the viewer. She uses photography not to document, but to transform private feelings into shared symbolic spaces.
Afshar’s style is deeply introspective and performative, inspired by artists such as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí, yet grounded in her own cultural and personal experience. Her imagery is both haunting and quiet, offering an invitation to engage with hidden human emotions that often remain unspoken. [Official Website]
