Mohsen Rastani 1958 – 2026

Biography

Mohsen Rastani was an Iranian photographer and photojournalist whose stark black-and-white portraits became one of the most distinctive visual records of people caught in war. Born in Khorramshahr on December 27, 1958, he earned a degree in photography from the University of Tehran in 1987 and later lectured there. His signature portraits, shot in black and white against a plain white background, gave ordinary people an unflinching dignity. His work covered the Iran-Iraq War, the Lebanese Civil War of the late 1980s, and the Bosnian War of the 1990s. Rastani died on October 25, 2026, at the age of 67.