Rthey present the present of a country with a thousand-year history. From which every day come stories of abuse and torture, trampled rights and dignity, senseless arrests, executions in the square and protests in the streets. They are the many postcards sent by hundreds of Iranian men and women from all over the world who responded toinvitation from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna to participate in the project Postcards from Iran.
Postcards from Iran, postcards from all over the world to support the protest
In a few weeks from the “call to pencils”, one was activated capillary international network that has collected over eight hundred postcards. All together, they make up a large installation in the spaces of the Ala Collamarini Corridor: a large mural in which painful testimonies alternate with stories of hope. They tell of the strength of a people who, even with the weapon of art, reclaim the freedom that has been denied to them.
The invitation of the Iranian artists of the Bumblebees collective
The installation, on display from 1 to 28 February 2023, is curated by collective of Iranian students and artists Bumblebees. It was created with the support of the Student Council and in collaboration with Gianluca Costantini, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and activist artist. The project is part of Repairs – artfully reworkedconceived by the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and inaugurated in the context of ABABO Art Week.
One of the Postcards from Iran, on display in Bologna – photo Ababo-
Saturday 4 February from 7 pm (with reruns every 30 minutes, last admission at 11 pm), on the occasion of the ART CITY White Night, the Aula Magna will host the performative action In the Name of Them, in memory of the Iranian girls and boys who lost their lives to safeguard the right to freedom of their country.
The event is organized in collaboration with Gianluca Costantini (also author of the guiding image of the project), who has been fighting his battles through drawing for years, recently also against the repression in Iran.
Mahsa Amini, Forugh Farrokhzad and “The massacre of flowers”
In fact, one of his latest works also goes in the same direction, The massacre of flowersa widespread exhibition that is filming in the Puglia Region (from 2 to 11 February it is in Canosa di Puglia before the last stop scheduled in Taranto). The title is inspired by the verses of the Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad: «You, friend, you, brother, you who have my own blood / when you get to the moon / write the story of the massacre of the flowers». And, of course, it is in support of the protests and strikes sparked by thekilling of Mahsa (Jina) Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish student in the custody of the “police for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice” died for not wearing the veil correctly and has become a symbol.
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