● Birthplace: Saveh
Biography
He started photography from the laboratory of the tourist attraction organization in 1977, with masters such as: Seyyed Mahmoud Pakzad, Etamadi, Hamid Rahbari and Amir Mohammad Kashefi. Abasalt Bayat learned professional photography at the same time as the popular struggles in the formative years of the Islamic Revolution, from masters such as: Bijan Bani Ahmad and Dr. Hadi Shafaiyeh. He worked in the photography laboratory of the Ministry of Guidance, and with the establishment of the Islamic Thought Foundation, he became the curator of the laboratory. Based on his past experiences, he took photos for the publications of the Ministry of Guidance, including the Echo of Islam. With the beginning of the imposed war, Bayat was sent to the fronts of the battle on behalf of the Islamic Thought Foundation, and went to the point of martyrdom to capture the scenes of bravery of the warriors on camera. The beginning of the imposed war was a turning point in his life. In 1980, he photographed the Susangerd operation with limited equipment and his photos were published in Soroush magazine. With the continuation of the war, he bought a suitable camera for photography according to his personal vision, and despite the great difficulty of being away from his family, he voluntarily went to the war front many times. Abasalt Bayat was sent to Hajj in 1981 as the winner of the photography competition of the Islamic Revolution. During this trip, he photographed the events and ceremonies of Hajj and was arrested and detained for 15 days due to carrying a camera and Imam Khomeini’s proclamation.
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Abasalt Bayat, during Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas, before the liberation of Khorramshahr, was injured by the blast wave and suffered chemical poisoning in the Kheybar operation as well as the Halabja area. After the end of the imposed war, he photographed the return ceremony of prisoners and in the late winter of 1991 and the beginning of 1992, at the same time as the Persian Gulf War, he began to photograph the subject of Iraqi Kurdish exiles who had taken refuge in Iran. In 1998, he received the 2nd degree of art from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Abasalt Bayat has won many awards by participating in various domestic and international festivals. The works of this artist since the Holy Defense period have been published in foreign language publications of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Islamic Thought Foundation, Soroush magazine, Holy Defense books and other publications, and have been displayed in domestic and foreign exhibitions many times. By participating in more than 20 group exhibitions and setting up more than 10 individual exhibitions, while holding several photo exhibitions in different countries such as: Italy, England, Greece, Austria, Yugoslavia, Belgrade, Senegal, Lebanon, Dubai, Bangladesh, China and… won the first photo rank in the 16th edition of South Korea’s photo competition among one hundred and ten countries. Photography of projects such as: the holy places of Mecca and Medina, Hajj rituals, the victory process of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Iran according to the image, Tehran today, historical buildings and social issues including: nature, mosques, Sunni seminaries, the Grand Mosque project of Tehran, The Milad Tower project and… are among his other works of art. Abasalt Bayat also has a history of cooperation with Islamic Culture and Communication Organization in his artistic career. Currently, he has completed the hundred dome project. By participating in more than 30 television interviews and making 150 short films of animals and birds, he has taken photographs of various subjects such as: nature, historical places, the unique project: the challenge of flowers and drops of water, and has completed more than two thousand five hundred Pieces of his photos have been selected under different titles. He also organized a photo exhibition in Chilik online gallery, titled: Tourist attractions of Iran and Serbia, along with its simultaneous display in Arsbaran Art Gallery. Abasalt Bayat, during these years abroad, photographed historical, religious and social issues in the following countries: Saudi Arabia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, South Korea, Greece, England, Austria, Tanzania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, China, Bangladesh, Ukraine, India, Italy, Lebanon, etc. By continuing his studies, he obtained a degree equivalent to a doctorate in the field of photography. He is still taking pictures of his favorite subjects.
Awards:
1981 – First place in the Hajj and Oghaf organization photo contest
1989 – Second place in the art and literature competition of Holy Defense
1991 – The winner of the 4th Biennial Iran Photo Exhibition
1992 – 2nd place in the international photo exhibition of women’s dignity
1996 – First prize of the 16th South Korea International Photo Festival
2005 – Participation in Bam earthquake photo exhibition
2006 – Second place in Fajr Noor Photo Festival
2006 – Certificate of appreciation for the first National Resistance Festival
2009 – Second place in the first city photo and postcard festival
2010 – First place in the first city photo and postcard festival
2015 – Certificate of appreciation of Isfahan Water Photo Festival
Holding more than 10 solo exhibitions abroad:
1995 – Muscat – Oman
1998 – Dorota and Viterbo – Italy
1999 – Beirut – Lebanon
2000 – Manchester and London – England
2002 – Beijing – China
2003 – Belgrade – Serbia and Montenegro
2003 – Dhaka – Bangladesh
2004 – Dakar – Senegal
2005 – 2006 – Doha – Qatar
2007 – Colombo – Sri Lanka
2008 – Beirut – Lebanon
2010 – New Delhi – India
2011 – Kyiv – Ukraine
Officials should learn from these photos
At the unveiling ceremony of his holy defense photo book at the 31st Tehran International Book Fair, Abasalt Bayat emphasized the need for officials to learn from these photos and said: They should install these photos on the wall of their office so they don’t forget where they got to here. arrived.
Seyyed Abbas Mirhashemi, the CEO of the Association of Photographers of the Revolution and Holy Defense, said in this ceremony: Our association started its activity in the early 2000s and spent most of its efforts to collect, illustrate, restore and code photographic works of the Revolution and Holy Defense. It led to the revival of negatives that are vulnerable due to the type of materials and erode over time.
Mirhashemi stated that there are more than one million photo negatives in the treasury of the Association of Photographers of the Revolution and Holy Defense, and noted: These negatives are the most valuable assets of our association, which were recorded in the epic days of Iranians in the Revolution and Holy Defense. We are very happy. We are able to publish these works. Also, in the future, we will publish holy defense photo books with specialized topics such as: engineering in war and treatment in war.
Referring to the tireless efforts of Abasalt Bayat, he stated: He started photography during the revolution period and reached his artistic peak during the war, and after the end of the war, he participated in important photography events in more than 50 countries of the world and held numerous exhibitions. set up We hope that in the future we will witness the serious publication of these works and their durability, and that history will be proud of itself for recording these photos.
Abasalt Bayat also said at the unveiling ceremony of his book: The Association of Photographers of the Revolution and Holy Defense selected 177 photos out of 6,000 frames of my photos with great care and time and printed the book: Abasalt Bayat in two parts, small and large. did I have been pursuing the publication of this book for more than 10 years, and finally, this work was done with the efforts of the Association of Photographers of the Revolution and Holy Defense, which makes me happy. Bayat continued: I hope that no war will happen anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, some people misused the blood of martyrs of holy defense and they should know that they will pay for their mistake in this world as well. Our country was occupied by the enemy for thousands of kilometers, and we lost our financial and human resources in this war. Human resources are irreplaceable. From teenagers to 90-year-old men, they joined hands, gave their lives, and freed the soil of Iran from the enemy. They took it back.
While expressing hope that the authorities will learn from these sacrifices, he acknowledged: the authorities are responsible for the sacrifices of the people, they should install these photos on the wall of their office so that they don’t forget where they came from. Many of the Holy Defense photographers had not even served in the army and had no knowledge of military issues, so it was very difficult for them to record these photos, and today we should appreciate these photos.
