Photo Exhibition in Tehran Marks Nelson Mandela’s Birthday

A photo exhibition was held on Monday, July 18, in Negarestan Garden in Tehran to mark the birthday anniversary of Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist.

The exhibition displays the works of Iranian photographer Meysam Shahbabaei, who claims to have been the only representative of Iran in Mandela’s funeral ceremony held in late 2013. He says he has tried to take photos of the African figure’s last days.

“On his birthday anniversary, I tried to do something different, so I organized exhibitions of my photographs [from the funeral ceremony] in five countries, including South Africa, France, the US, Australia, and Iran,” Shahbabaei noted.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition was attended by Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Ali Jannati, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tehran Maria Dotsenko, and a representative from South African embassy.

In this ceremony, Jannati also unveiled Nelson Mandela’s stamp in a move to commemorate the anti-apartheid hero.