Desert people

Iran is like a big plate, into which, however, they do not laddle the soup into the middle. The rains fall down on the mountains surrounding the Iranian plateau, making them turn green and fertile, and creating one of the world’s most ancient agricultural civilizations. Inside, on the actual plateau, however, it never rains, and the large rivers running down the hills after reaching the plains, soon seep away and disappear in the immense desert covering the middle of the country.

However, as long as there is water, there is life. People still live at the edge of the desert, irrigating the land from the last, thin stripes of water, grazing goats and sheep, waiting for the caravans crossing the desert. Ahmad Kavousian’s photos from 1975.


Kayhan Kalhor (kamanche): شب کویر (Shab-e kavir, Night in the desert, 6:15). From the album شب، سکوت و کویر (Shab, sokut ve kavir, Night, silence, desert)