Sanna Sjöswärd

Wedding Reception. Tehran, Iran

Sanna Sjöswärd (b.1973, Iran) has worked as a professional photographer since 2002. Sanna came to Sweden in 1977 after being adopted from Iran and grew up on Lidingö outside Stockholm. In 2006 she released her first project called Roots. In 2008 she released “Pastor & woman”. Her exhibitions include:  “Roots”  “Mary – The Dream Of The Woman” and “Priest & woman”. The first has also been shown at the Photographic Gallery in New York. She also works with on book projects and exhibitions. Her photographs are regularly published in many of Sweden’s largest newspapers and magazines and foreign newspapers such as Le Figaro, The Globe and Helsingin Sanomat. She has also written an autobiography entitled “My mother is a Persian Princess (Collins, 2009).

About the Photograph:

“This picture is from a project called Roots. It’s of my younger sister Maryam and her husband Mahdtis. In Iran parents  often decide who their daughters or sons will marry. This wasn’t the case with my sister. The party was in a large room in central Tehran, where family and friends attended. Because my family is very traditional men and woman celebrated in separate rooms.”