Newsha Tavakolian (Persian: نیوشا توکلیان; born 1981) is an Iranian photojournalist and documentary photographer.

Born and brought up in Tehran, at age 16, Tavakolian took a six-month photography course,[4] after which she began working as a professional photographer in the Iranian press.

She got her international break in 2001 at age 21, when she met J.P. Pappis, founder of Polaris Images, New York at a photography festival in Perpignan, France.

[4] Tavakolian has worked internationally, covering wars, natural disasters and social documentary stories in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen.

Tavakolian was to create her vision of Iran with a project she called "Blank Pages of an Iranian Photo Album.

He insisted that she give the project a cliché title, "The Lost Generation," as well as removing the accompanying text that discussed her experience living in Iran.

Her project "Listen" focuses on women singers who are not allowed to perform solo or produce their own CDs due to Islamic regulations in effect since the 1979 revolution.

These women were so terrified of being photographed, Tavakolian spent almost a year convincing them to participate in the photo shoot.

15 of these photographs, picturing female rebels fighting against ISIS, were presented at the show, limited to those above 16 years old, blacked out.

Festival director Ong Keng Sen issued a statement condemning MDA's move and lack of explanation and pointing out that the photographs were already published in the readily accessible Time magazine, both online and off.

[8][23] In 2022, Tavakolian's work was included in the exhibition curated by Charlotte Cotton, "Close Enough: New Perspectives from 12 Women Photographers of Magnum," on view at the International Center of Photography from September 27, 2022-January 9, 2023.