Newsha Tavakolian's newest publication brings together works made between 1995-2001 and 2017-2019, spanning more than two decades of photographic practice. Turning inward, Tavakolian revisits her archive to recover what she calls her 'eyesore' photographs-early, imperfect works made when she began her career as a photojournalist in Tehran at the age of sixteen. Through this deliberate excavation of failure, Tavakolian reflects on the relationship between memory, politics, and personal growth. Revisiting contact sheets, broken negatives, and overlooked snapshots, she confronts not only her artistic beginnings but the emotional landscape of a generation shaped by reformist hope, political restriction, and repeated disappointment. The book moves between early journalistic work and Tavakolian's later, more refined conceptual portraits, creating a visual rite of passage from youthful idealism to disillusionment and beyond. The material details embedded in the images-cars in the streets, hijab styles of the 1990s, protest gestures, theatre performances-form a dense historical record of post-revolutionary Iran and the generations that followed. The project resonates powerfully in light of more recent events, including the deadly protests of January 2026, when thousands of Iranians were killed seeking change. And They Laughed At Me is not simply a survey of a photographic career.

It is a testament to endurance and a portrait of a generation that continues, despite everything, to choose hope.