Parisa Azadi

In a country where the law determines dress, restricts unmarried couples from sharing a hotel room, and bans citizens from walking their pets to discourage ownership of domestic animals, outdoor life offers a potent, albeit temporary, relief from the stresses and restrictions of city life and governance. In outdoor spaces, unencumbered by authoritative scrutiny, unmarried couples share camping tents, women take off their headscarves, and unleashed dogs run free. It is a joyful picture of momentarily unbounded liberation.

But even this fleeting freedom is under threat. Since 2022, Iranian authorities have clamped down hard, clearing out popular camping sites across Iran. Morality police roam the streets, enforcing strict dress codes and administering hefty fines to groups of travellers who drink, dance, and sing in public spaces.

But Iranians continue to defy such restrictions. Their outdoor pursuits are a way to actively embody certain freedoms and to imagine new futures, however uncertain. The same dreams of freedom and independence that inspired the 1979 revolution continue to play out in such quiet acts of youthful defiance.