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From a distance there’s a festive Christmassy look to the crimson, white and inexperienced streamers fluttering within the riverside breeze in entrance of Tate Trendy. However transfer nearer and also you see that these strips of crepe paper are interspersed with indicators declaring ‘Say Their Names’ and a number of photographs of males, ladies and youngsters. For crimson, white and inexperienced are additionally the colors of the Iranian flag, and the folks whose faces and names are on show, tied to the fencing exterior Tate Trendy, are the 400-plus Iranians who’ve been killed by the regime because the protests erupted with the loss of life of Mahsa Amini in September.
Say Their Names is an ongoing mission instigated by the Iranian artist Anahita Rezvani-Rad, who has lived in London since 2004, when she couriered a Francis Bacon portray from Iran’s nationwide assortment to go on present at Tate Britain, and by no means went again.
Invoice Woodrow and Richard Deacon, who’ve made two collaborative works, one among which commemorates the ten-year-old Kian Pirfalak
“My coronary heart is burning—from the second I wake my ideas are consumed by what is occurring in Iran,” Rezvani-Rad says. She explains that Say Their Names got here from a need to document and commemorate those that have died within the latest uprisings. These embody a lot of youngsters. “I needed to archive them as a result of there are such a lot of, it’s a option to flow into their story and their photographs by artworks,” she provides. “Many of those killed have had their our bodies buried late at evening by the regime so their memorial doesn’t flip right into a protest. Their households have been below strain to say they’ve died as a consequence of ‘pure causes’ so even of their loss of life they can’t be honoured by their family members.”
Rezvani-Rad is making a portray a day depicting the victims of the present protests, and has additionally invited fellow artists to make memorial portraits of the deceased in a medium of their selection, that are then reproduced, laminated and placed on show. These embody Invoice Woodrow and Richard Deacon, who’ve made two collaborative works, one commemorating the ten-year-old Kian Pirfalak, shot by gunmen in Izeh; and one in reminiscence of Yalda Aghafazli, a 19-year-old protester who died after being launched from Qarchak detention centre in Tehran, following a starvation strike and beatings. Each these portraits are accompanied by a picture of a sculpted lion, in honour of the ritual of the Bakhtiari Folks to place a stone lion on the graves of eminent folks from their tribe.
Trudi Warner’s tribute to Diana Mahmoudi
Among the many different heart-rending photographs on present are Trudi Warner’s drawing of the cheeky grinning face of the 9 12 months outdated Diana Mahmoudi, who was killed by Iranian forces in Piranshahr in October, and Michael Ajerman’s pastel drawing of the superstar chef Mehrshad Shahidi Nejad, who was crushed to loss of life by safety forces on 26 October, someday earlier than his twentieth birthday.
In the meanwhile, the show of faces and names may be seen exterior Tate Trendy, however this Wednesday (21 December), when each Brits and Iranians have fun the longest evening, Rezvani-Rad can be organising the ‘Say Their Names’ memorial to Iran’s latest revolutionary heroes at Piccadilly Circus. Right here, between 6-9pm, she and her fellow artists and Iranians—and anybody else who desires to affix—shall be lighting candles, sharing meals and protecting these names alive.
Michael Ajerman in entrance of his work, commemorating the superstar chef Mehrshad Shahidi Nejad, who was crushed to loss of life by safety forces on 26 October
In the meantime Rezvani-Rad and her fellow countrymen and girls are additionally inviting everybody to go onto the @saytheirnames_artproject Instagram web page to be taught extra about the way to bear in mind these killed by the regime and to help the continuing protests in Iran. If the Instagram web page has vanished (Rezvani-Rad’s personal account was suspended for some time) then the knowledge can be obtainable on this web site.
As well as, they’re calling on the British authorities to shut the Iranian embassy and to freeze the belongings of distinguished Iranians within the UK. These embody people equivalent to Saied Reza Ameli, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, who, in response to the Instances can be a director of the London-based Islamic Human Rights Fee (IHRC), which is accepted by the UK authorities to offer authorized recommendation on Islamic gown codes and guidelines in colleges. “Principally, we would like the UK authorities to cease working with the Iranian Authorities in the identical approach as they’re sanctioning Russia,” Rezvani-Rad says.
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