A charity exhibition of paintings based on Ferdowsi’s ‘Shahnameh (book of kings) by orphan children was held at Shokouh Art Gallery in Tehran August 18-19.
Titled ‘Role Playing With Shahnameh Poems’, the event included 35 works by six girls under the umbrella of Ravian-e-Mehr (Narrators of Affection) institute, Honaronline reported.
Zahra Pashaei, Parmis Sabeti, Asal Samari-Ara, Nazanin-Zahra Shoja’ati, Fatemeh Sadat Tabtabaei, Reyhaneh Karimi and Mojdeh Baqerian were the girls, all between 9 and 12, whose works were on show.
The paintings were created using various techniques including color pencils, pastel and water color on paper. They were in fact visual narration of Shahnameh stories based on the children’s own impression and imagination.
Shahnameh is a long epic poem written by the celeberated Persian poet Ferdowsi between 977 and 1010 CE. It tells mainly the mythical, and to some extent the historical past, of the Persian Empire from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century.
All the displayed items were for sale and the proceeds went to orphan children.
Director of Shokouh Gallery, Behnoush Foroutan, said it was the first time the gallery hosted a charity show for orphans. “It was one of my earnest desires which was finally realized,” she said, adding that neither she nor other organizers had a financial interest in the show.
Like an auction the artworks were sold to the highest bidders.
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