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Crimson Ark, an exhibition of works by Australian-Iranian artists showing a personal response to more than three decades of persecution of Baha’is, has opened at Sydney art gallery At the Vanishing Point–Contemporary Art Inc.
The exhibition will be launched by Brendan Penzer, Managing Director of At the Vanishing Point–Contemporary Art Inc. at 3pm on 15 December at the gallery, 565 King St Newtown. The exhibition will continue until 23 December 2012.
The exhibition is of work by painter and digital artist Shadi Eshragi, writer Maryam Master, photographer Leila Barbaro, and ceramic and multi-media artist Mehrzad Mumtahan. The artists are from Sydney and have friends or family who have faced persecution and imprisonment by the Iranian regime.
The curatorial team of the Crimson Ark exhibition are Brendan Penzer, Monir Rowshan and two of the exhibiting artists — Shadi Eshragi and Mehrzad Mumtahan.
The artists believe that art speaks directly to our emotions. They decided to create and exhibit art works that could not only let their fellow Australians know about, but also vicariously feel, the horrors of the systematic persecution being imposed on the Baha’i community in Iran — things that the artists have seen and experienced first-hand.
True stories
The exhibition was prompted by real life experiences of Baha’is in Iran such as:
- A shy little girl, a favourite with her teachers and top of her class, is shamed in front of her class mates and then summarily expelled from primary school.
- A quiet and unassuming family man is abducted, imprisoned and tortured.
- A breast-feeding mother and her husband are jailed and their newborn baby left in the care of an elderly relative.
- A respected university professor is dismissed from his post because of his beliefs.
- A group of seven beloved religious leaders are abducted, imprisoned, subjected to an unfair “trial”, and held in prison for more than four years in appalling conditions. They remain in jail.
- Arson, murder, desecration of cemeteries and looting of property.
Members of the Baha’i Faith, Iran’s largest religious non-Muslim minority (300,000), have suffered these kinds of abuses for more than three decades due to a systematic campaign of state-sanctioned violence and discrimination, condemned by the Australian and other Governments, and by the United Nations.
This persecution continues despite the international outcry, and despite the Baha’i community’s commitment to foster peace and harmony in their country, their abstention from partisan politics and their determination to always obey the law of the land.
The Crimson Ark artworks aim to honour Baha’is imprisoned in Iran for their strength and determination, and to highlight the human rights abuses those Baha’is, including their friends and families, continue to suffer simply because of their religious beliefs. The artists call for their release and for the just treatment of all people in Iran.
In a statement, Mr Penzer expressed his feelings about the exhibition.
“ATVP is pleased to present Crimson Ark and work with the artists and curatorial team on this important exhibition, examining the plight and predicament of Iranian Baha’is and their experiences of persecution and human-rights abuses perpetrated against them,” Mr Penzer said.
“ATVP has a proud history and commitment in helping to nurture the development of the careers of a diverse array of emerging artists and curators whom we work with, especially through exhibitions that encourage us all to engage in dialogue and discourse around important contemporary cultural, political, social and ecological issues.”
The exhibition will be launched at 3 pm on Saturday 15 December at At The Vanishing Point-Contemporary Art Inc. gallery 565 King Street Newtown.
Crimson Ark takes its title from mystical scriptural references to the Baha’i Faith.