A gaggle of Iranian artists, annoyed with the inaction of Western museums within the face of human rights abuses in Iran, unfurled a collection of banners lined with the face of Mahsa Amini on the Guggenheim Museum in New York on 22 October.
Amini died in an Iranian hospital final month after being detained by the regime’s morality police for allegedly not complying with the nation’s hijab laws. Her loss of life sparked ongoing mass protests in Tehran and cities throughout Iran.
The nameless collective unravelled the banners, which additionally proclaimed, “Girls, Life, Freedom” from the highest flooring of the museum’s recognisable rotunda. Chatting with The Artwork Newspaper, Shiva Balaghi—a Center East scholar on the College of California Santa Barbara—says that the “nameless collective motion is in step with the protest actions taking place throughout Iran now”. This weekend, round 80,000 supporters marched in Berlin in solidarity with the Iranian demonstrations.
In a submit on Instagram, the Iran-born artist Shirin Neshat posted a movie of the motion on the Guggenheim, saying: “Masha [sic] Amini emerged on the Guggenheim museum immediately!! Proud of some courageous Iranian artists [making] a shock protest by hanging this lovely show immediately, they’re the conscience of the sleepy artwork world who cares little for Iranian girls preventing for primary human rights and freedom.” It’s unclear how the photographs had been sourced.
The London-based artist and collector Maryam Eisler subsequently responded: “’Sleepy‘ is an understatement. It’s a shame. Good on these artistic souls to convey their plight into the guts of the artwork home even when this ‘home’ hasn’t stood up for them but.” The Guggenheim Museum was contacted for remark; in 2015, the establishment held the primary US museum exhibition of mirror works and drawings by the late Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian.
Earlier this month Eisler was amongst various artwork world figures who stated that museums within the UK and US should do extra to deal with the worsening human rights state of affairs in Iran.
