‘Swedish Dads’ Photo Exhibit at IAF

‘Swedish Dads’ photo series taken by Swedish photographer and photojournalist Johan Bavman is to be displayed at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran.

“A dad is not something you become in the course of one day. These portraits of father and child highlight the bond that is uniquely built through time spent together, thus arguing for the benefits of taking time off work for family,” Bavman says in his introduction to the documented collection.

The photo exhibit opens on April 7 at 5 pm and will run through April 14. It is organized under the auspices of Swedish Embassy and Iranian Artists Forum, Azad News Agency reported.

Sweden has one of the most generous parental leave systems in the world. The current system enables parents to stay at home with their child for a total of 480 days, while receiving an allowance from the state.

In order to encourage men and women to share their parental leave more equally, a so-called ‘equality bonus’ has also been introduced. The more days divided equally between parents, the higher the bonus.

In spite of this generous allowance and unique bonus, only a fraction of Sweden’s fathers use all their days of parental leave. Only 14% of parents choose to share the days equally.

Bavman’s exhibition features a series of photos portraying the dads who belong to that small percentage who choose to stay at home with their child for at least six months.

Bavman explains more about the photo series: “With this project, I want to find out why these men have chosen to stay at home so much longer than the majority of Swedish dads. What has it done for them, how have their relationships with their partner and their child changed, and what expectations did they have before taking parental leave?”