Tina Massumi

Iran

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A Home Made of Us, 2023-2026

After leaving one broken home to build another in exile, this project began with self-portraits made in moments of solitude after I left Iran. Arriving in Marseille marked a turning point: I unpacked, arranged my few belongings, and photographed what I had carried with me, objects that became fragile anchors to a place I never fully belonged to, yet could never return to. Suspended between two worlds, I feared remaining in this in-between space, neither rooted in France nor at home in Iran. Slowly, I began to build a community of Iranian women who shared this sense of being unhomed, all trying to carve out a place in the city that received us. The work gradually turned outward, toward the women who became my community, the moments we share, their homes, and the objects they carry with them. In collaboration with these women, I photograph gestures, conversations, and small rituals of everyday life. Moving between lived moments and constructed images that reflect my own emotional landscape in exile, the project explores how personal experiences become collective ones. Through portraiture, still life, self-portraiture, and images of shared spaces, I examine how attachment is reshaped through displacement. A Home Made of Us reflects on exile not only as loss, but as a process of rebuilding. Together, we are shaping an alternative version of home, made of faces, voices, memories, and shared resilience. The project considers how sisterhood, care, and community can transform displacement into connection. This work was developed through the Penumbra Foundation’s Long-Term Photobook Program and a Magnum Photos workshop mentored by Newsha Tavakolian and was awarded the 2025 UPP Prize.