Summer Plans

This summer I'll be in Dushanbe, Tajikistan for two months studying Persian through the US State Department's Critical Language Scholarship. Since I've never been to Tajikistan, I've been looking at a lot of photos from the region to get a sense of its landscape and people. So far it looks like an eclectic mix of socialist architecture with traditional marketplaces and citadels. Dushanbe has a lot of Soviet-style monumental architecture and reminds me of what I saw in Russia. The natural scenery is really beautiful (about 95% of the land is mountainous) and I hope to get a chance to see some of the higher mountains outside the capital. Love the photos of suzani textiles and women's clothing!

Dushanbe from above

Khojand

Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings

A new adaption of Iran's national epic known as the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings by the poet Ferdowsi, was recently published by Quantuck Lane Press with a revised translation. Its 300 illustrations have gotten a lot of attention since some of them took over 40 hours to complete. Using photoshop, the artist Hamid Rahmanian assembled digital collages drawing from several Persian manuscript paintings to combine the best of the best and enliven these stories reflecting Iran's mythical, heroic, and historical ages. The pre-order option is available on amazon.com and should be released sometime in May. Meanwhile, the Shahnameh's website is fun to explore and gives you a good sense of the project's aesthetic. 

Here is a video of the process: