Out of curiosity about the reality quotient of the image that Western media present of Iran, Anoek Steketee traveled to that country herself. She began her own research into the position of the individual in Iranian society, and discovered that different norms and rules were in operation. Within the confines of one's own home people live in a relatively free manner, but on the streets the mores of the Islamic society were imposed. As an outsider, Steketee experienced public life in Iran as a theater performance with surrealistic features. To give form to her dissociation, for FRONTSTAGE (2004-2005) she asked random Iranians on the street to pose for her while they pictured themselves playing out an imaginary theater scene.

Anoek Steketee (Netherlands, b. 1974) studied photography at the Academy for Visual Arts in The Hague. She makes autonomous work and works as a freelance photographer, alternating between Amsterdam and Teheran.