In 1976, I – Annabelle – a British woman, moved to Iran with my Iranian husband Ali.

We lived in Tehran where we enjoyed a wide circle of cosmopolitan friends of many nationalities.

A happy snapper, I took a lot of photographs which provide an interesting record of a unique period – 1978-1979 – when a population mobilised into revolution. There are an especially large number of images of women who played a significant role in the political mobilization.

The revolutionary process in Iran became the focus of my doctoral studies and later a book, Small Media, Big Revolution, co-authored with Ali. This served to ground my academic career in international communication: first at Queens College, CUNY; then as the second-only head of the Centre for Mass Communication Research at the University of Leicester; and latterly, as a founder – together with Mark Hobart – of the Centre for Media and Film Studies at SOAS, University of London (now called the Centre for Global Media and Communications). I also helped establish the Centre for Iranian Studies at SOAS and was its first chair.

Forty years on, I hope these images serve as a reminder of how the Iranian Revolution happened and what an important process it was, with enormous impact inside the country and outside. These images might also help make Iranains seem a little more familiar to Western eyes.

Photography

All the photographs are mine, except when I am myself in the frame! They were mainly taken with a Pentax and the film was developed in Tehran. The images have been scanned and digitized in London and are a mix of black and white and colour. They have not been tweaked or digitally enhanced.

Was this an intentional, even a conscious, project?: the answer is no! I have used select photos in published books and essays and in talks and conference presentations. Some have been used in other peoples’ works. They have never been collected together before.

Where the subject is known to me, I have endeavoured to get their permission to use their image. If anyone has information about a photograph or even recognises themselves in a shot, please let me know. Many images are hard to pin down to a specific date or even location. Any help would be gratefully received.