Murals, Murals, Nothing But Murals
Nov 16, 2015
Outside the former U.S. embassy, Tehran, October 11, 2015
But during my second stay, I quickly realized how oppressive their presence must feel to the people who are confronted with this crude propaganda every single day. Many of the slogans sound absurd, to Westerners and Iranias alike: “Israel must be omitted from the world,” or “Dear Khomenei, we will never put down the flag that you have raised.”
During my second visit, I was able to discern three varieties of murals: First, the Anti-western “Down with U.S.A.” type of mural, secondly, the martyrs, and thirdly, the ubiquitous faces of Supreme Leaders Khomenei and Khamenei. The murals shown here represent only a fraction of the ones we saw.
A big number of volunteers, often teenagers, was killed during the Islamic Revolution and especially during the Iraq-Iran war in kamikaze missions. Today images of these martyrs, who died for the idea of the Islamic State, are everywhere on the walls in Iran. Now, some members of the regime think that it is not a good idea to continue with the installation of new murals, because some of the descendants of the martyrs are part of the Green Movement and the opposition.
Wall painting boasts a long and complex history in Iran. After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, which abolished the rule of the Shah, the country was established anew as an Islamic Republic. Dominated by ideological narratives, public spaces became another place for political indoctrination. Today, this gargantuan propaganda often labelled as urban beautification is faced with the challenge of much smaller, politically nuanced stencils, stickers and graffiti. (I will dedicate one of my next posts to this so-called underground art.)
Street artists have a tough life in Iran – they are regularly accused of Satanism, receive no support from artistic institutions and all work is wiped off the walls within hours of its creation. Their visions illustrate the dichotomies of daily life in Iran: themes of war and peace, poverty and inequality, cultural identity and social injustice.
Tehran is trying to improve the appearance of urban landscape through huge paintings on façades (because they have recognized that only murals of martyrs and a lot of smog are not good for the city’s appearance). The responsible authority – the “Beautification Organization of Tehran” – has hired artists to paint a big number of facades with colorful motivs.
A wall by a kindergarten, Tehran, October 29, 2015.
This is one of the more recent murals I’ve spotted: A painting put up on a construction site on Vali-e Asr Street, one of the main roads in Tehran. Apparently, there are more Anti-American murals being painted as we speak.
Additional photography and research by Christoph Miler. You can re-license all of these pictures through my agency KEYSTONE, or contact me directly if you want to publish my photos from Iran.