Iranian painter and sketch artist Bahram Dabiri, 65, condemns violence and terrorism in his exhibition titled ‘Deshne dar Dis’ (Dagger on Platter).
At Tehran’s Golestan Gallery, Dabiri has showcased a number of his drawings he created in 1985, when Iran was in the midst of a terrifying war imposed by Iraq.
“During the war years (1980-88) Iran found itself in a forlorn state. Those conditions and the atmosphere then influenced the works showcased at the exhibit,” Dabiri told Honaronline.
The exhibition Dagger on Platter opened on October 21 and will run through October 26. It features 23 drawings by Dabiri who said: “This collection of drawings reflects the violence directed at us during the wartime. It is in this period of history, which I believe is one the worst in terms of violence, that the drawings achieve significance.”
The painter goes on to strongly condemn terror in all its form visiting countries big and small. “This is a period during which terrorists are committing horrible crimes across continents. It doesn’t matter where in the world the atrocities are committed…in the Middle East or in Europe.”
Feeling a sense of responsibility and wanting to do something about the issue, Dabiri spoke to Lili Golestan, 71, the curator of Golestan Gallery, a well known venue that has always contributed to the expansion of artistic horizons in Iran. She allotted a short period for the show between other programs of the gallery.
Though the drawings relate mainly to the bitter days of the bloody military conflict between the two neighbors, their message and criticism are not limited to the war. Dabiri says, “They (his works) extend far and beyond to demonstrate the global and widespread afflictions” caused by terror, violence and organized crime that have been cutting short the lives of innocent civilians.
The bloody war imposed by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein killed an estimated one million people on both sides and maimed hundreds and thousands of others. Iraq’s Ba’ath army also used internationally-banned poison gas against civilians in the northern Iraqi town of Halabja, 48 hours after the fall of the town to the Iranian army and Kurdish guerillas, killing thousands of his own people on the pretext that they had helped Iranian combatants.
After the fighting ended, Tehran officially said that the war, which the United Nations eventually admitted was started by Iraq, had cost Iran a trillion dollars in economic losses.
Golestan Gallery is located at No 34, Kamasai Street, Darrous.
Dabiri’s work has been displayed, among others, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, the French Embassy in Tehran, the 2000 Art Expo New York, 2000 Contemporary Iranian Modern Art exhibition, New York, Reagan Center, Washington, Fabien Fryns Gallery, Marbella, Spain, Hotel Mirage, UAE and the Bernak Gallery in Bremen, Germany.
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