People in the Iranian art scene talk dismissively of "chador art", the anonymous photographer tells me with a sardonic laugh: the kind of art in which the garment figures prominently, to the exclusion of much else. Many western collectors seem to want to buy this image of Iran by the yard. "People outside want to see us as different, that Iran is a dark place, all the rest of it," she says. "This way of looking at us is tiring." Noebashari says, in a way, the irony is funny: "Poor us, we have one of the most vibrant art scenes in the world."