Much to our dismay and concern, we have come to learn that the Paris ASIA NOW, set to commence on October 21 and run for four days, is going to host Tehran-based art galleries sanctioned and aligned with the ruling theocracy in Iran.
Not surprisingly, the commercializing of pro-Iran artists and artwork comes at a time when artists in Iran like other segments of the population are suppressed and are deprived of basic freedoms.
This is despite the fact that the regime in Tehran is probably the staunchest enemy of art, artists and cultural activists.
Under the religious dictatorship in Iran the plight of artists has deteriorated, as many artists, performers, writers, musicians, and sculptors had to either flee the country or be confined to their homes. The legendary Iranian soprano, Marzieh, was silenced for 15 years, and was forced to disappear from public view in a small village, until she decided to leave Iran and go to Paris.
Many other Iranian artists and performers, some of them world renowned, were forced into seclusion and died in poverty and in oblivion. Others were arrested and jailed. Female artist and performers were completely banned as the mullahs’ medieval Sharia laws prevent women from singing in public.
At no time during the 43-year reign of the Iranian clerics, have the writers, artists, and performers have been able to engage in their respective professional activities safely and freely, without fear of reprisal, harassment, arrest, detention, or prosecution. Indeed, this was on the main concerns expressed by the United Nations Secretary-General in his latest report to the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.
The United Nations is not alone in its expression of concern and condemnation of the Iranian regime’s crackdown on arts and artists. In a resolution adopted on December 17, 2020, the European Parliament, called on “the Government of Iran to immediately and unconditionally release the hundreds of people arbitrarily detained for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression including protesters, journalists, media workers, political dissidents, artists, writers and human rights defenders.”
In one of the most brazen acts of crackdown against Iranian artists, on September 21, 2021, the authorities arrested the Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi at his home and took him to an unknown location. Salehi’s home was searched, and his personal belongings were confiscated upon his arrest.
Toomaj Salehi had protested the policies of the regime in his two recent works, “Normal Life” and “Mouse Hole”, which were widely embraced by Iranian social media users.
Based on published reports, at least three dozen artists, musicians, filmmakers, actors, actresses, painters, cartoonists, sculptors, and poets have been arrested and imprisoned at one time or another.
Censorship is exercised routinely and no publication, film or even articles are permitted to publish until and unless they go through a very strict and rigorous vetting process.
Under the circumstances, allowing Tehran’s approved art galleries to set up exhibits at the Paris Asia NOW, not only disregards the dreadful state of censorship and crackdown on arts and artists in Iran, but also lends legitimacy to one of the most oppressive regimes in modern history, and distorts from the everyday reality that prevails in Iran today.
As such, we call on Paris Asia NOW to cancel the invitation to these fake and regime-aligned galleries and instead allow dissident artists to set up their exhibits to reflect the heavy hand with which the regime has stifled the free expression of art and culture in Iran.