‘Zanjir’ by Amak Mahmoodian is a conversation imagined between the Persian princess and memoirist Taj Saltaneh (1883 - 1936) and the artist. In 2004, Mahmoodian visited the Golestan museum in central Tehran to begin work on academic archival research. The museum was once home to Qajars, and to the King’s wives and relatives. The photographs in the museum’s archives, amongst others, include those taken between 1860 and 1896 by Nasr al din shah, the King during the Qajar Era, when photography first arrived in Iran. These archival photographs became a cornerstone of the project due to the multiple potential interpretations and readings of the imagery. 

IC Visual Lab collaborated with in the art direction and design of the a publication (published by RRB Publishing 2019) and an exhibition at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, UK. 

The publication was Winner, Photo/Text Award. Les Recontres de la Photographie, Arles. 2020 and reviewed for Financial  Times  (EN),Collector Daily (US) by By Olga Yatskevich, American Suburb X (US) by Sunil Shah, FOAM by David Campany and 1000 words (UK) by Caroline Molloy.