Southern Winds

When war broke out in the Persian Gulf and southern Iran on 28 February 2026, I found myself asking new questions, after years of researching and photographing the communities around the Strait of Hormuz. The most pressing is about belonging: how does war deepen our attachment to the homeland? When what exists today may be gone tomorrow, how do people return to who they are?

The identity of southern Iran is bound to the sea: to journeys, family ties and routes linking both shores of the Gulf. In wartime, these routes may be lost. Can war build an invisible wall between the peoples on either side?

Starting from my own family, whose life has always been tied to the sea, I travel around the Gulf, following the history, culture, memories and lives of its people. This journey is an attempt to understand belonging: how the sea connects people, how identities are shaped by geography and history, and what becomes of these bonds when war threatens to break them.