Shahin Esfandiari Iranian, b. 1985

Shahin Esfandiari (b. 1985, Tehran, works and lives in Tehran) is a photographer whose work has been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at the British Museum in London, the Tehran Photography Biennial, and Silk Road Gallery in Tehran. In 2009, he received an International Photography Award (IPA) in New York. Esfandiari works with hand-printed photographic techniques on handmade paper. His practice explores the relationship between nature and human perception, unfolding through the concept of Nature as a Sensitive Surface. Developed over years of engagement with Iran's natural landscapes, his work approaches photography as a process performed by nature itself—continuously recording and revealing its own transformations. Alongside expansive landscape images, close-up studies of etched surfaces occupy an equally significant place in his practice. He describes these restrained monochrome details as "symbolic cores that hold an entire landscape," fragments capable of encapsulating the essence of a broader terrain.