ABOUT
Ashkan Shabani is a self-taught photographer, visual storyteller, and journalist based in Germany. He began photographing in his teenage years and entered professional photojournalism in 2016 with the local news agency DiyarMirza. In 2017, he joined the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), where he worked in various roles including photo editor, assistant photo editor, staff photographer, and freelance contributor for national and international outlets.
Throughout his career, Shabani has documented a wide range of subjects, from LGBTQ+ issues in the MENA region to elections, natural disasters, human rights developments, and social movements in Iran. His work has appeared in publications such as Time, The Atlantic, Corriere Della Sera Sette, FT Weekend, GEO, Handelsblatt, Daily Mirror, ZDF, among others, and has also contributed to editorial projects including a ZEIT dossier examining contemporary social and political developments. He is also a member of Diversify Photo, an international collective supporting underrepresented voices in visual storytelling.
In recent years, his practice has shifted from daily journalism toward longer-term documentary and investigative work. His projects often explore themes of extremism, migration, identity, and human rights, with particular attention to LGBTQ+ lives in the Middle East. In 2025, he produced an investigative story on neo-Nazism in Germany for ZDF’s aspekte, developed through extended field reporting and undercover access.
