Submission Guidelines

We welcome contributions to the second issue of Forensic Archive Dossier on the Rasht Grand Bazaar fire and massacre, focusing on what took place on January 8 and 9, 2026.

Rasht Grand Bazaar is not only a commercial space. It is a living urban archive: a site of memory, labor, intergenerational livelihood, local identity, food culture, craft, architecture, and everyday social life. Its destruction cannot be understood only as damage to buildings or economic infrastructure. It must also be documented as a human, cultural, and social wound.

This special dossier seeks to gather evidence, testimony, and analysis from those directly and indirectly affected, including victims, survivors, witnesses, shopkeepers, local residents, heritage workers, researchers, lawyers, journalists, artists, and members of the Iranian diaspora. 

The dossier is envisioned as a hybrid public archive, publication, and curatorial project. Through testimony, documentation, research, and artistic responses, it seeks to preserve evidence, support collective memory, encourage critical reflection, and create a lasting public record of the Rasht Grand Bazaar fire and massacre. Selected materials may contribute to future digital and physical exhibitions, publications, and public programming.

The project is being developed with support from the network of volunteers at Forensic Archive of Iran, with particular attention to the careful and ethical collection of testimonies. We welcome contributions from both specialists and members of the general public. No prior academic, artistic, or professional experience is required to participate.

We are collecting:

1. Testimonies from victims, witnesses, and affected communities

We invite written, audio, or recorded testimonies from people who experienced, witnessed, documented, or were affected by the Rasht Grand Bazaar fire and massacre.

This may include:

• shopkeepers, workers, or families whose livelihoods were affected

• witnesses present during or after the incident

• residents of Rasht with direct knowledge of the event

• people who documented the fire, violence, destruction, or aftermath

• relatives of victims

• emergency responders, journalists, or local observers

• members of the Rasht community in Iran or in exile

The safety, dignity, and consent of contributors will be treated as central to the project.

2. Visual and documentary evidence

We welcome:

• photographs

• videos

• screenshots

• social media posts

• maps

• witness notes

• media reports

• official statements

• architectural or urban documentation

• before-and-after images

• material relating to damaged shops, structures, archives, goods, or objects

Please include, where possible, the date, location, source, and any available context for the material. If you are unsure whether something is relevant, you may still contact us.

3. Analytical and research contributions

We also invite case studies and research-based contributions, including but not limited to:

• the history and cultural significance of Rasht Grand Bazaar

• the bazaar as urban heritage and social infrastructure

• the relationship between fire, violence, and cultural destruction

• state negligence, responsibility, or suppression of information

• the targeting or abandonment of civic and heritage spaces

• legal analysis relating to human rights, culturecide, or accountability

• memory, mourning, and public testimony

• the role of bazaars in Iranian civic life

• Gilan’s regional heritage, identity, and political history, which may relate to this case

• the ethics of documenting violence and destruction from exile

• risk assessment and accountability relating to public mobilization, protest calls, and political advocacy during periods of crisis

• epistemic violence, silencing, misinformation, and the production or suppression of knowledge about the event

• responses, non-responses, and interpretations of actions taken by international heritage, cultural, and human rights organizations

• heritage diplomacy, international responsibility, and the limits of existing protection frameworks

4. Reflective writing and personal accounts

While documentation and testimony remain central to this dossier, we recognize that violence, loss, displacement, and memory are not always fully captured through evidentiary records alone. Reflective writing provides an opportunity to record personal experiences, observations, emotions, and forms of witnessing that may otherwise remain undocumented.

• reflective essays

• diary entries

• personal letters to individuals, communities, or future generations

• memoir fragments

• personal accounts

• witness reflections

• community memories

• writings on grief, mourning, survival, and recovery

• reflections on the significance of Rasht Grand Bazaar in everyday life

• writings exploring memory, identity, belonging, and loss

5. Artistic Contributions

The Forensic Archive of Iran recognizes artistic practice as a legitimate form of witnessing and public engagement. We welcome creative responses that engage with the themes of heritage, violence, memory, disappearance, survival, and civic life in relation to the Rasht Grand Bazaar fire and massacre.

• photography and photo essays

• drawings

• maps and visualizations

• painting

• sculpture

• installation and site-specific artistic responses

• printmaking

• mixed-media work

• digital artworks

• video and moving-image works

• poetry

• fiction and creative prose

Suggested formats

• Testimonies: written, audio, or recorded, of any length

• Short written pieces: 800–1,500 words

• Longer essays: 1,500–3,000 words

• Visual work: please include a short description of 100–300 words

• Evidence submissions: please include as much contextual information as safely possible

Submissions may be in Farsi or English. Translation support may be considered where possible.

We also welcome submissions that fall outside the categories listed above but engage meaningfully with themes of memory, loss, heritage, community, documentation, or lived experience connected to Rasht Grand Bazaar and its aftermath. If you are unsure whether your contribution is suitable, we encourage you to contact us.

Safety, consent, and anonymity

Because this dossier involves testimony and potential evidence of violence, contributors may submit materials anonymously or under a pseudonym.

The Forensic Archive of Iran will not publish identifying details without explicit consent. Testimonies and evidence may be reviewed before publication to protect contributors, witnesses, victims, and families.

Before public release, sensitive material may be redacted, anonymized, or withheld if publication could create risk.

How to contribute

Please contact:

info@forensicarchiveofiran.com

Suggested subject lines:

 Rasht Dossier — Testimony
Rasht Dossier — Evidence
Rasht Dossier — Research & Analysis
Rasht Dossier — Reflections
Rasht Dossier — Artistic Contribution

Please include, where relevant:

• your name or pseudonym

• whether you wish to remain anonymous

• your relationship to Rasht, the bazaar, or the incident

• your testimony, evidence, or proposed contribution

• any safety concerns we should be aware of

• whether you consent to publication, internal review only, or follow-up contact

Editorial note

The Rasht Grand Bazaar dossier is part of the Forensic Archive of Iran’s broader work documenting cultural destruction, civic loss, and heritage endangerment under conditions of violence, state opacity, and political instability.

This dossier does not treat heritage as separate from human life. The destruction of a bazaar is also the destruction of livelihoods, memory, public space, and the social worlds that make a city live.

Please note that all contributions will be subject to a review process and editorial refinement prior to publication.