Shadi Ghadirian's Qajar series places modern consumer objects within the framework of early 20th century Iranian portrait photography, a juxtaposition which at first seems playful and comic, but on further examination contains a profound discourse on the role of women in Iranian society. The conservatively dressed figures are shown clutching Western consumer objects, in some cases a can of Pepsi or a ghetto blaster, in this case an acoustic guitar. These anachronisms point to a deeper conflict of identity in Iranian society, one in which the women of Iran, faced with the opportunity and advancements of modernity, are still trapped by a conservative and religious moral ideal that confines and segregates them. Ultimately, Ghadirian's women are caught between tradition and modernity; so close to the promise of freedom, yet unable to attain it.