With global protests increasing following the death of 22-year old Iranian Mahsa Amini, leading Iranian artists Afshin Naghouni, Soheila Sokhanvari, Fari Bradley, Bijan Daneshmand, Maryam Eisler and Afsoon, gathered this week in London to give their support to the work of Human Rights Watch in Iran, as well as two additional charities currently working with the people of Iran.
The event marked the announcement of an upcoming online auction of artwork by leading artists internationally to be launched in March 2023, and a call out for artists to donate their works to support the ongoing work of charities such as Human Rights Watch and others committed to supporting the human rights of the people of Iran.
Yasmin Ahmed, Human Rights Watch UK Director, opened with a talk about the current situation in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, she shared the work that Human Rights Watch is doing and has done to document the excessive and unlawful lethal force Iran has waged against its citizens, and the victory result that has come from pressure on the UN Rights Council to investigate the Iranian government for its human rights violations. On 24th November 2022, The UN Rights Council agreed to investigate the Iranian government for Human Rights violations.
Yasmin Ahmed’s talk was followed by a series of powerful conversations with Iranian artists: Afsoon who works in mixed media was interviewed by sound artist Fari Bradley; painter and sculptor Soheila Sokhanvari – whose current exhibition at the Barbican titled “Rebel Rebel” was in conversation with art historian Katayoun Shahandeh; and photographer Maryam Eisler with celebrated Iranian painter Afshin Naghouni. The artists shared their personal journeys, experiences, processes, and most importantly how the situation in Iran has impacted their works.
Afsoon discussed her childhood in Iran before traveling to California and then settling in London in 1988. Her nomadic life is reflected in her work where East merges with West, and the result is simultaneously familiar and foreign, as seen in her “Verbal Nostalgia” Series, 2005/2006. Afsoon is unafraid to combine text and images as well as various techniques such as linocut, photography, collage and etching in a single piece. Though her art is frequently deeply personal, it contains multiple meanings and speaks to different people in myriad ways.
Despite the layered interpretations and methods, her work is not convoluted, and the viewer is easily engaged as her art can be humorous, playful and sophisticated all at once. Afsoon boldly declared to the audience at THE VOICE OF A WOMAN ART FOR IRAN, “Before being Iranian, before being an artist, more than anything I’m a woman.”
