‘Ordinary Grief’ is a story of reconciliation, identity and longing. In 2017, after 25 years of self-exile, Azadi returned to Iran to reclaim her history. Spanning 2017 to 2022 the project reflects the tension between despair and hope, exhaustion and resilience. It is a love letter to a homeland from which she feels estranged and to the people shaping new futures despite the odds.

Raised between East and West, Azadi wrestled with displacement and cultural amnesia. ‘Ordinary Grief’ examines forgetting and remembering and explores how exile alters identity. Amid hardship she sought moments of joy, serenity, celebration and ritual against the backdrop of perpetual grief. Through photography Azadi documents physical, emotional and political limbo and questions what it means to long for and belong to a place.

This work reflects the enduring struggle of reconciliation and invites viewers to consider memory, home and the fragile balance between loss and hope.

Artist Bio:

Parisa Azadi is a Canadian-Iranian visual journalist exploring history, conflict, memory and displacement. She has reported on issues such as the Syrian refugee crisis, Indigenous women in Canada and religious extremism in South Asia. 

Since 2015 she has focused on communities living in the aftermath of political violence in the Middle East. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and Associated Press. She has earned numerous awards, including the Magnum Foundation Mobility Grant. In 2024 her latest solo exhibition was held at The American Center for Photographers showcasing her powerful visual storytelling.