After a long political freeze between Iran and the UK, a cultural entente is quietly under way in London with the launch of Recalling the Future: Post-revolutionary Iranian Art, at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Four curators including Hamed Yousefi, an Iranian culture critic, and David Hodge, a London-based art historian, have presented trends, ideas and techniques shaping the Iranian art scene today through the works of 29 established, emerging and late artists.

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Entering the softly lit space with sitar harmonies delicately wafting through the air, one is apprehensive that the Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire exhibit may present a narrow, clichéd, gift-shop approach to the Mughal dynasty. Exhilaratingly, it turns out to be a spectacular treasure trove of imperial life, unearthed by curator Malini Roy, from the vaults of the British Library.

Read More: A Glimpse of the Magnificent Mughals

The photographer Abbas’s images of the Iranian revolution have been described as “the memory of the event.” I certainly remember them. Or I remember the event. I remember anyway my parents deciding that we had seen enough of these images on the streets, so they folded up their newspapers and unplugged our television at home. Abbas’s images are the first ones you see upon entering the rather dark space of Light from the Middle East, a photography exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Read More: Light from the Middle East at the V&A

See also: Light from the Middle East and Familiar Transformed with the Unexpected

From 9/11 to the Arab Springs, media coverage has become increasingly dominated by the Middle East in recent years. At the moment, as reports emerge of the kidnappings and deaths of foreign nationals in Algeria, we are again met with an image which has become par for course: the bearded jihadi fundamentalist facing the camera. Meanwhile, the wealth of footage documenting the uprisings in the Maghreb presents the region as one of constant turbulence and violence. There is a danger of reducing the Arab world to tired caricatures – or in the words of the late Edward Said (the main theorist on post-colonialism) a depiction of Arabs as ‘either oil suppliers or potential terrorists’. The current exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Light from the Middle East does not allow for any such crude taxonomy. The first major museum exhibition of Middle Eastern photography, it spans a huge scope of different work produced by artists from across the region, ranging from North Africa to Central Asia.

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Exploring the history and significance of the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, the British Museum organised, in January 2012, a major exhibition titled Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam. In this essay, published in April 2012, Christopher de Bellaigue, provides a review of the exhibition and accompanying catalogue.

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The manipulation and vulnerability of images are the central themes in Light From the Middle East, a thoughtful and layered photography exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, through April 7th 2013.

Read More: Familiar Transformed with the Unexpected

Connoisseurs, creative analysts and global society can explore the ‘Great Mughals’ through a fascinating exhibition, which runs until April 2nd, 2013 at the British Library.

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From the 16th to the 18th centuries, the Mughals dominated South Asia, and they took their art seriously. The British Library’s new exhibition, Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, is not to be missed, argues William Dalrymple.

Read More: Art Treasures of Mughal Empire