A month has gone since the death in custody in Iran of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, detained by the "morality police" for being in violation of the dress code for women. The death of Amini sparked protests in Iran that are now entering into their fifth week.
Starting with calls for an end to the compulsory hijab and the withdrawal of the morality police from the streets, now the protests have turned into a rebellion against the theocratic regime. The latest news from Iran regard a fire that engulfed the Evin prison in Tehran. Evin is known for serious human rights abuses against its prisoners, among them political dissidents and critics of the government, for its brutal interrogation techniques and use of solitary confinement.
The official state news agency stated the incident started after a fight broke out among prisoners in a sewing workshop and have nothing to do with the recent unrest in the country. But relatives of the prisoners challenged this reconstruction, claiming the protests reached inside the prison and security officials repressed the prisoners and ignited the fire to cover their tracks.
There are different ways to show solidarity with people bravely protesting in Iran, as we have seen in a previous post. Art can also inspire us to learn more about Iran. For example, at the moment there is an auction dedicated to graphic novel and art fans at Sotheby's in London: the "Persepolis" auction (open for bidding until 25th October) offers to collectors the first 44 original book art pages for Persepolis (Volume 1) by Iranian artist, author, screenwriter and director Marjane Satrapi.
The multi-million selling semi-autobiographical graphic novel series Persepolis, published 22 years ago and also turned into a film in 2007, tells the story of Iranian Marji, who we meet at the age of ten, in 1980, while the Iranian Revolution has shaken the nation to its core and the Iran-Iraq war is getting underway.
If you haven't read them yet, Satrapi's Persepolis and Persepolis 2 are a great way to learn more about the author's childhood in Tehran, Iran, her bohemian years in Europe and her return to her home country. If you want to explore the universe of women and pick a title that has got something to do with textile art (but bear in mind that the title is a metaphor for something very different from your ordinary crafts...), opt for Satrapi's Embroideries (2005).
In this graphic novel, a group of female relatives and friends - Satrapi's grandmother, her mother, an eccentric aunt, their neighbours and the author herself - gathers after lunch and tell each other tales of love, pleasure and sex.
The dominant character is the grandmother, a highly independent woman, bad tempered in the morning, sweet and caring after her morning tea spiced up with a bit of opium.
"To speak behind others' back is a ventilation of the heart," she says at the beginning of the book and, after her statement, the confessions start. As if they were creating an embroidered tapestry, the women share secrets and tales about how to fake one's virginity and the "full embroidery" operation (in which a woman's vagina is sewn to restore her virginity); which are the advantages of being a mistress and why the penis is not as aesthetically good looking as the vagina.
The narration goes from one woman to another: Satrapi's grandmother recounts how she helped a friend trapped in an arranged marriage; Aunt Parvine, the artist of the group, tells about how she escaped, at the age of 13, her arranged marriage to an old man, by scaling a garden wall and hiding out with her aunt until he died; family friend Amineh remembers how her husband was forced to leave the country a short time after their wedding, after the Shah returned to power. But when she joined him in Berlin months later, she realised he was betraying her with other women.
The style used in Embroideries mirrors the content: Satrapi breaks from the traditional frame-by-frame structure and draws in most of the pages only a character or two, concentrating on the stories they are telling. Her drawings pull the readers into this circle of women and make them feel part of their conversation.
Witty, entertaining, powerful and humorous, Embroideries is celebration of women and reading it (or any graphic novel by Satrapi) may be a way to show your solidarity with the strong and fearless Iranian women who for a month have bravely protested in the streets for their rights and for freedom.
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