This series was made in the aftermath of the collapse of the Plasco Building, while I was simultaneously serving as a conscript in the Iranian Army and working as a photographer for the Iranian Students’ News Agency (ISNA). Most nights, after leaving the barracks, I would make my way to the site to photograph the rescue and search operations.

Because of the security restrictions surrounding the site, photographing freely was often difficult. Amid smoke, rubble, artificial light, heavy machinery, and the continuous presence of rescue workers and crowds, I tried to record not only the scale of the disaster, but also moments of exhaustion, waiting, care, solidarity, and the human encounter with destruction.