Keeping Tomorrow’s Stories

For nearly fifteen years, residents of Shibderaz village on Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, have protected the endangered hawksbill sea turtle along their shoreline. Made across roughly one square mile, this project moves between the village and the beach, following the close relationship between everyday life and local conservation.

The work focuses on the people and practices that sustain this effort: families relocate and monitor nests, record each mother's eggs, and return hatchlings to the sea. Children who once learned to care for turtles are now protectors themselves, showing how knowledge and responsibility are passed from one generation to the next.

I came to know this process through Jima, a woman from the village and a friend, who is part of the protection team. Her presence opened a more personal path into the story and reflected a quiet but meaningful form of participation within the social realities of Iran.

As heat, development, and ecological pressure continue to threaten the coast, the project observes how a community works to protect not only an endangered species, but also its relationship to place, memory, and the possibility of continuity.