Anomalies of Bus Terminals in Photos

‘Passengers’ (in Persian: ‘Mosaferan’), a group photo exhibition by seven photographers, is underway at City Photo Museum in Tehran.

The exhibition is the fruit of a five-month project. It opened Monday and will run through August 17, according to Tandis online magazine of visual art (tandismag.com).

Rouhollah Ebrahimi, Mozhdeh Afrousheh, Ata Rashidiani, Yasaman Moradi, Razieh Mousavi, Sara Norouzi and Abbas Vahedi spent 5 months at intercity bus terminals in Tehran to capture the paradoxical nature of such places in terms of motion and stillness.

The group of seven searched in and out of the terminals and their courtyards, bus bays and interiors to take the pictures presented for the exhibition, which is open all days except Fridays.

Visiting hours are from 9 am-6 pm, with a midday break from 1-2 pm. On Thursdays, City Photo Museum is open from 9 am-1 pm. It is located at Bahar-Shiraz Park near 7-Tir Square.

Photos on display are of waiting passengers, working personnel, buses and all that unfolds around them.

“Terminals are indeed controversial. They are built for facilitating public transportation, but paradoxically, are also places where stillness is emphasized and time slows down,” says the statement of the show.

“Time seems to get longer when spent waiting before boarding the bus. This stillness is in contrast with the ultimate purpose terminals are built for. Here, everything is held in suspense ...”

The group started the project in the fall of 2016. They searched for their subjects in every nook and cranny of four terminals: in the west, east, south and the large Beyhaqi Terminal in north Tehran.

At each of the four terminals, one sees folks from different parts of the country. The diversity in their looks, attire, habits and cultures are evident in the photographs.