28 September 2008

Minoo Emami's war gallery

The second link on my side bar is to the website of the Iranian artist Minoo Emami. Minoo lives and works in Tehran. She is a highly regarded artist who has exhibited extensively both in Iran and abroad.


It is her war art that particularly impresses me. The paintings and collages are deeply personal images, inspired by her husband's experiences during the Iran-Iraq war, an eight year long conflict started by Saddam Hussein which cost over one million lives. Her husband was an officer in the Iranian Armyand lost a leg during the conflict. Like Simin Behbahani's poem the necklace the images of false limbs and combat fatigues are in their own way as damning an indictment of war as the poetry of Wilfred Owen.



Minoo reminds us of that we should not just dwell on what is produced by American or European artists. There is an enormous wealth of talent elsewhere in the world. Although I have not met Minoo I was delighted to be able to meet fellow Iranian artist Elahe Heidari in Paris in May. I was also fortunate to meet other extremely talented Iranian artists Shiva Sanjari, Negareh Ayatollahi and Nasila Moghadan in Paris too.

13 comments:

r morris said...

great post.
reminds one of the horrors of war.

jams o donnell said...

It certainly does.

Sean Jeating said...

Chapeau, my friend.
...
On language ... 15 minutes later, after several deleted attempts ... 'ah, Jams won't feel offended' ... thus, be it:
It was no 'conflict'. It was a war!

Isn't it strange? Why did I hesitate?
Thinking too much?

:) Of course, I could end this inner conflict (not: war) by deleting all. Instead I shall push 'enter' ...

jams o donnell said...

It certainly was a war and an extremely bloody one too

Sean Jeating said...

Thanks, Jams.
And sorry for my 'somehow' strange comment.

Would you mind me setting links to your appreciated Iranian artists?

jams o donnell said...

Sure Sean. I'll sort some out for you

Nunyaa said...

Very good pieces, so life like.

CherryPie said...

I agree the artwork is very expressive!

jams o donnell said...

Nunyaa, Cherie I'm glad you enjoy them too (although enjoy is not teh tight word)

jmb said...

Very interesting works. Simple but very expressive.

jams o donnell said...

Glad you like her work jmb

Ms Smack said...

Very talented woman!

jams o donnell said...

Thanks ms smack. She certainly is