SOUS LE CIEL DE SHIRAZ

in COLABORATION WITH PaykanArtCar

PaykanArtCar is a non-profit organization built around a car. This car, which was a gift of the former Shah of Iran to Nicolae Ceausescu, was acquired at auction by the project's founders in order to transform this historically charged car into a canvas for marginalized Iranian artists to shed light on contemporary human rights issues in Iran. Alireza Shojaian is the first artist to collaborate with PaykanArtCar and this project is one of three winners of the Vaclav Havel creative dissent Award 2022.

Vaclav Havel 2022

FOR CREATIVE DISSENT BY HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION

“To create his latest work in praise of Middle Eastern men, artist Alireza Shojaian traded pencil crayons and paper for an airbrush and a vintage car.”

“Adding another layer of meaning to this mobile message is the fact that this particular Paykan was once given as a gift by the last Shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, to the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.”

TORONTO STAR

Artist statement

Story telling has been always an important part of Persian culture. Stories which stayed in the heart of the people regardless of the change of the governors. Mainly through the poems which have inspired calligraphers and painters throughout the history.

As a painter I have always tried to narrate the unwritten histories through art to give them a sort of immortality. Stories which can show future generations the suffering of our time and will put a light on the dark sides of our history.

Painting on a Support that it has its own strong character and history was no easy task. Paykan is a car that was part of our daily life in the streets of Iran for many years. A car which once was the pride of the nation and with the passing of time became one of those uncomfortable old taxis, is today more a nostalgic car for two generations of Iranians.

But what makes the difference here is the history behind of this specific Peykan which I have painted. The car was a gift from the former Shah of Iran to the president of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu. A car which was once owned by a dictator, is today a support for an artwork by an Iranian queer artist in exile. A project which is supposed to give the voice to a suppressed minority in a society where their voice is silenced by a totalitarian regime.

The aim of this project is to throw light on the dilemma of the LGBTQIA+ rights in Iran. The topic which repeatedly has been denied by the governors and neglected by society, especially the Iranian diaspora.

In this project I have borrowed the characters of Sohrab and Shaban from the paintings of Hossein Qollar-Aghasi (1902 - 1966 Tehran), to narrate a contemporary story by turning the battle between these two national characters into a romantic moment on the front of the car which takes place In a Persian garden under the starry Shiraz’s sky as immortalized in so many Persian miniatures. On the two sides we have the scene of their death as the results of their forbidden love. On the left, the death scene of Sohrab referring to the article 234 of penal codes of the Islamic republic of Iran (possible death penalty for same sex relation between men). On the right the figure of Shaban referrers to the story of Alireza Fazeli, a 21 years old gay man, beheaded by the men of his family in 2021 in Ahwaz, Iran. Sadly, there are hundreds of similar stories that no one hears about.

Since in the Middle East the myth exists that homosexuality comes from western culture, to avoid using any western symbols, I did not use a rainbow in the work but an Iris, the flower representing Iris the goddess who created the rainbow.

“A panel on the car’s driver’s side shows a reclining nude man wearing a bejewelled arm band. With the rear door of the car ominously ajar, the figure looks to have been beheaded. Blood appears to drip onto the ground beneath the figure’s neck.

From inside the car, as if its dashboard radio had been left on before the bloody crime, an audio recording recounts the death of Alireza Fazeli Monfared, a 20-year-old Iranian man who was murdered in his hometown in May. His friends have said he was killed by family members who had learned he was gay and Amnesty International has called for an investigation into his death.”