Sometimes the best presents you receive are the ones that show you people are not alone in fighting for what is right. Weapons of this battle? Feet. Minds. Paint. Words.
If you wander through the streets of Tehran, you may encounter some of these images. Look closely.
If you wander through the streets of Tehran, you may encounter a country whose population is primarily under the age of 35. The beards who ran the Islamic Revolution had an issue with condoms around 1979. And since nobody could go out and have a drink and a dance to bide their evenings, young couples took up more amourous pursuits. The result is a country with a young population. A population with ever increasing female university students. A country with people who know how to dodge firewalls. A people imbued with a passion for self-expression and a rich artistic tradition.
Nothing – not a beard, a Basij, a club, or a gun – can repress the creativity and flair I’ve seen with my own eyes in Iran.
This video was shot from a balcony in Tehran. The pictures below are of art recently placed on the streets of Tehran.
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All photographs and artwork are by [REDACTED]. Names and identities have been withheld for the security of those involved.
Should you choose to repost these images, please drop me a line with a comment I can forward to the artist(s) involved.
great art…refreshing..
I’ll pass your encouraging comments on to my friends in Tehran. Thanks!
These are wonderful! I’ve linked to them.
I’ll pass your comment on to the folk making the art in Tehran.
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Wonderful art! I’m posting a link to this site from twitter. Seeing such commitment to expression in the midst of the turmoil Iran is going through is amazing. Thanks for the images.
Thanks Lisa – I’ll pass your comments on to the folk in Iran. I’ve been told they’ve been busy again. Painting and protesting. They’re encouraged by all the international support and the messages that get through to them. Keep em comin’.
Thanks for sharing this. America is praying for Iran.
Images reposted on “Pretty to Think So” (Link:
http://somewherenevertravelled.blogspot.com/2009/06/random-posts-of-pretty-iranian-street.html)
I came across your site while searching for news about what is happening over there right now, and I am ever so glad that I did. This art is absolutely wonderful! Please convey this anonymous American’s best wishes and full moral support to your brave friends in Iran.
The youth cannot be stopped!!!
Thanks man. Consider it done. The last bit of info I got freaked me out a bit. One of my friends was batoned in the thigh and hip near one of the universities – he/she still went to the market to buy things for dinner. People are scared but life goes on.
“Someone has said that when anyone is denied freedom, then freedom for everyone is threatened. The struggle in the world today for the hearts and minds of mankind is based on one simple question: Is man born to be free, or slave? In country after country, people have long known the answer to that question. We are free by divine right. We are the masters of our fate, and we create governments for our convenience. Those who would have it otherwise commit a crime and a sin against God and man.” — Ronald Reagan, Radio Address to the Nation on Solidarity and United States Relations With Poland, October 9, 1982. from The Weekly Standard blog
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Absolutely fabulous. I forwarded it to Asia Times, please check our coverage (www.atimes.com). Sent your link to France and Italy. My wife is an art director/ graphic designer, she wants to reproduce some of the pieces in the top cultural magazine in Brazil. I’d love to be in touch with the artists, if that’s possible. Not sure Tehran will give me a press visa anytime soon. Keep up your great work. Megabest,
Pepe Escobar/Asia Times/The Real News network
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We need a mass movement of, “SIDEWALK CHALK POLITICAL SATIRE” to galvinize and keep alive the- Iranian Pro-Democracy, “REVELATION.”
Such artistic expression can and should be compared to the Ancient Egyptian Hyrogliphics.”
http://www.CaptainDemocracy.wordpress.com
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In many ways this street art is as poignant as the real pictures of the demonstrations. Thanks so much for sharing these; I’ll pass on to my Iranian academic friends in the U.S.
Just Re-Tweeted this on Twitter. Great art. I wish the protesters well, and I really hope they succeed.
Beautiful. Like grass finding its way through cement…
My heart flies out to them. Thanks SO much for sharing this…..
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Their commitment and courage are so inspiring. Thank you for sharing the images here. Please tell your contacts in Iran that an American Jew is wishing them success and praying for their safety.
For those outside Iran please read this as well: http://reunifygally.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/help-iran/ This tells how to help protect those who are reporting events there through Twitter, by setting your location to any Iranian city (as well as other actions, for those more technologically savvy than I.)
A flower for Iran. http://www.flwildflowers.com/irangift
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After the 2004 election, Elizabeth Edwards cited a passage from a letter of Thomas Jefferson’s. It came to mind as I was looking at these wonderful images.
“A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to it’s true principles. It is true that in the mean time we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war & long oppressions of enormous public debt. ….If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, & then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are the stake. Better luck, therefore, to us all; and health, happiness, & friendly salutations to yourself.”
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Art tells a story that words cannot. Flowers, like freedom, require nourishment. Democracy and freedom are precious. The words of Thomas Jefferson echo through the ages. “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. … God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion; what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.” — Thomas Jefferson to William Stephens Smith, 1787
I have added a new piece of art in solidarity with the brave Iranians who have become martyrs for their cause at http://www.flwildflowers.com/irangift
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Thanks for bringing this to us!
Linked: Farrago’s F.M.I.
[REDACTED] is an awesome artist, and now he/she has a cool new nickname.
[REDACTED] means I’ve removed the artist’s name for the artist’s security in the current political climate. It is not the artist’s name.
important stuff. thanks. i clip it on clipmarks 4 as many eyes 2see.
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Hi, gave you and your friends a bloggy high-five here http://culturalsnow.blogspot.com/2009/06/green-graffiti.html
Hi–thanks for sharing these images; I’m passing them along on my site.
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Hey there, I had to post this too, at http://littleredfireengine.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/orbit-3/
artist’s civil courage…
on twitter & twitpic @stylink
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