Quote: "My photography is a reflection, which comes to life in action and leads to meditation. Spontaneity - the suspended moment - intervenes during action, in the viewfinder."
Abbas joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and became a full Member in 1985.

Iranian, b. 1944

An Iranian transplanted to Paris, Abbas has dedicated himself to documenting the political and social life of societies in conflict. In his major work since 1970 he has covered wars and revolutions in Biafra, Bangladesh, Northern Ireland, Vietnam, the Middle East, Chile, Cuba, and South Africa during apartheid.

From 1978 to 1980, Abbas photographed the revolution in Iran, to which he returned in 1997 after seventeen years of voluntary exile. His book Iran Diary 1971-2002 is a critical interpretation of Iranian history, photographed and written as a private journal.

During his years of exile Abbas travelled constantly. Between 1983 and 1986 he journeyed through Mexico, attempting to photograph a country as a novelist might write about it. The resulting exhibition and book, Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, helped define his photographic aesthetic.

From 1987 to 1994, he focused on the resurgence of Islam throughout the world. Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, the subsequent book and exhibition, spanning twenty-nine countries and four continents, attracted special attention after the 9/11 attacks by Islamic jihadists. A later book, Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey (2000), and touring show explored Christianity as a political, ritual and spiritual phenomenon

Abbas's concern with religion led him in 2000 to begin a project on animism, in which he sought to discover why non-rational ritual has re-emerged in a world increasingly defined by science and technology. He abandoned this undertaking in 2002, on the first anniversary of 9/11, to start a new long-term project about the clash of religions, defined as culture rather than faith, which he believes are replacing political ideologies in the strategic struggles of the contemporary world.

A member of Sipa from 1971 to 1973, then of Gamma from 1974 to 1980, Abbas joined Magnum Photos in 1981 and became a member in 1985.

Exhibitions

2006 The Children of Abraham - Nobel Peace Center, Oslo, Norway
2006 Islams and Shias - Vicino/Lontano, Udine, Italy
2005 Sur la Route des Esprits, La Chambre Claire, France
2004 Iran - Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
2004 Resurgence of Shias - Visa in Perpignan, France
2004 Ya Saddam - Noorderlicht, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
2004 Islams - The United Nations, New York, USA
2003 Visiones de l'Islam - La Caixa, Girona, Granada, Pamplona and Palma de Mallorca,
Spain
2002 Iran, the Revolution - The Grey Gallery, New York, USA
2002 Viaggio Negli Islam del Mondo - Palazzo Vecchio, Firenze, Italy
2002 Visiones de l'Islam - la Caixa, Tarragona, Madrid, Malaga, Orense, Spain
2002 IranDiary - Visa in Perpignan, France
1999 Islamies - Place Royale, Brussels, Belgium; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France
1999 Chrétiens - House of Photography, Moscow, Russia; Eberhardskirche, Stuttgart,
Germany
1994 Retornos a Mexico - Centro Nacional de la Fotografia, Mexico
1992 Return to Mexico - Mexico Cultural Center, Paris; Maison pour Tous, Calais, France
1991 Retrospective - Imagina, Almeria, Spain
1986 Votez pour Moi - Galerie Magnum, Paris, France
1984 Retrospective - Galerie ARPA, Bordeaux, France
1983 Retrospective - Consejo de Fotografia, Mexico
1982 Citizen of the Third World – The Photographers' Gallery, London, England; Open Eye
Gallery, Liverpool, England
1980 Iran, the Revolution - Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran; Darvazeh Ghar
mosque, Tehran, Iran; Fundacao Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1977 Retrospective - Galerie Litho, Tehran, Iran
Ce jour-là - Galerie FNAC, Paris
1972 Ganvie People - Falomo, Nigeria

Books

2006 The Children of Abraham, Intervalles, France
2005 Abbas, I Grandi Fotografi di Magnum, Hachette, Italy
2005 IranDiaro: 1971-2005, Saggiatore, Italy
2005 Sur la Route des Esprits, Delpire, France
2002 IranDiary: 1971-2002, Autrement, France
2000 Faces of Christianity: A Photographic Journey, A. Abrams, USA
1994 Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam, Phaidon, UK;
Allah O Akbar - Voyages dans l'Islam militant, Phaidon, France;
Allah O Akbar - Viaggio negli islam del mondo, Contrasto, Italy
1992 Return to Mexico: Journeys Beyond the Mask, W.W. Norton, USA
1986 Retornos a Oapan, FCE, Mexico
1980 Iran: La Revolution Confisquée, Editions Cletrat, France
1977 Zaire Today, Editions Jeune Afrique, France