The tenth day

This reportage was shot in october 2015 during the commemorations of Ashura in Tehran, particularly in the popular districts of the south-west of the capital that spreads around Imamzade Abdullah street. The objective was to investigate the relationship of the population with one of the most important commemoration of the Shi'a world away from big official gatherings. The Ashura (the tenth day literally) commemorates the martyrdom of the third prophet Husayn in the plain of Karbala (today's Iraq) by Umayyad tribe, occurrence that marks the schism from Sunni Islamism. Generally Western iconography is focusing on the Ashura rituals of self-flagellation giving an idea of fanaticism and cultural backwardness. In fact the practice of self-flagellation have been banned in Iran, and the commemorations of the martyrdom occur only with representations and simulations. The underlying sense of the event, especially in Iran, is to strengthen the bonds of the community under the sign

Raffaele Tuzio is a photographer based in Rome. He was born in Benevento and his passion for fotography began in 1981. In 1988 he went to Rome where he was involved in travel photography. During these years he travelled all around the world. In 1990 he started a collaboration with the italian tour operator sentieri di nuove esperienze, a company specialised in cultural tourism. Raffaele is consultant for tours planning and he directs a long term project to increase the company image.