Shahin Shahablou

Shahin Shahablou
Shahin Shahablou
Born	27 January 1964
Died	15 April 2020 (aged 56)
Occupation(s)	Photographer, gay rights activist

Shahin Shahablou (27 January 1964 – 15 April 2020) was an Iranian photographer.

Biography

Shahablou was raised in

Iranian Cultural Heritage Organisation,^[1] photographing heritage sites while managing the organisation's darkroom. He taught photography, and his work was displayed in solo exhibitions in Iran and India. He became a photojournalist at the new Azad newspaper, a pro-reformist publication established during Mohammad Khatami's presidency, and became a photojournalist and a board member of the Iranian Photojournalists Association

.

When Azad was shut down in 2001 after publishing a caricature of an ayatollah, Shahablou travelled to India and

Tehran University of Art

to complete an MA in photography in 2006.

Shahablou was homosexual and a gay rights activist.^[2] Amid growing social repression after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took power in 2005, he was imprisoned as a political prisoner for membership of a dissident group.^[3]

In 2011 he fled Iran for the United Kingdom, where he was given refugee status. His work was known for capturing LGBT subjects, and he also worked as a photographer for Amnesty International,^[4] and for events for Cooltan Arts,^[5] alongside working in a supermarket.

Shahablou died of COVID-19 on 15 April 2020, aged 56, from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in England.^[6]

References

^ "Shahin Shahablou obituary". The Guardian. 5 May 2020. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023.
^ Gleeson, David (5 May 2020). "Shahin Shahablou obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
^ Bay Area Reporter: Award-winning gay photojournalist dies of COVID-19
^ Pinknews tribute
^ "Soho Society Obituary". Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
^ An Award-Winning Photographer Left Iran To Be Gay. Two Months After Finding Love, He Died Of Coronavirus

[1] "Shahin Shahablou obituary". The Guardian. 5 May 2020. Archived from the original on 15 April 2023.

[2] Gleeson, David (5 May 2020). "Shahin Shahablou obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2020.

[3] Bay Area Reporter: Award-winning gay photojournalist dies of COVID-19

[4] Pinknews tribute

[5] "Soho Society Obituary". Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.

[6] An Award-Winning Photographer Left Iran To Be Gay. Two Months After Finding Love, He Died Of Coronavirus

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