Death in Iran is not confined to cemeteries. It extends into memory, politics, religion and everyday life. Cemeteries are among the few places where private grief, public ritual and state authority exist side by side.

Photographed in Tehran between 2010 and 2011, this documentary photo essay explores the world surrounding death rather than death itself. The photographs move beyond mourning to document the people whose lives revolve around cemeteries: gravestone craftsmen, stone engravers, cemetery workers, funeral rituals, grieving families and the quiet economy that supports one of the country’s oldest traditions.

At the same time, the project reveals another, less visible reality. In parts of Iran’s cemeteries, memory itself is closely monitored. Certain burial grounds remain under constant surveillance, and some families are denied the right to mark or publicly mourn their loved ones. In these places, a cemetery becomes more than a place of remembrance; it becomes a landscape where history, politics and silence intersect.

Grave Business in Iran is a visual record of these parallel worlds—where commerce meets grief, faith meets memory, and ordinary lives unfold in the shadow of both personal loss and political history.

This photo essay was not produced with a professional camera system. Due to the heavy security presence and the sensitivity of photographing cemeteries, burial sites, and politically monitored spaces in Iran, the work was made with a small compact camera in an effort to draw as little attention as possible to the photographer while working on location.