A set of three photographs entitled Maria by Iranian artist Newsha Tavakolian depict an Iranian man who has had a sex change operation to become a woman. It was these photographs that caused the greatest stir when the exhibition Iran Inside Out, now showing in Dubai, was exhibited at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York.  Whilst homosexuality is a crime and is forbidden in many Islamic countries, including Iran, sex change operations are condoned by Shi'a thinkers since it allows homosexual men and women to change their genders and ent