Feeling honoured

I received a welcome message yesterday from Minoo, an Iranian artist whose work I regard highly. I haven't spoken to her for a long time so it was a pleasure to hear from her. It was an even greater pleasure when she asked me to take a look at the draft of her new book and give feedback, particularly on the English text

The book is an overview of her twenty years as an artist. Central to this is her war series which was inspired by her husband losing a leg during the Iran-Iraq war. The central motif is a false leg which takes many forms.

But it is not a painting with the false leg motif which I consider her strongest. It is this painting of a pair of savagely torn combat trousers. For me it is one of the most powerful piece of war art I have seen

Dark as much of her work is, I like it very much. It was a pleasure to see the book before it is published next year (not that it will be available via Amazon or stocked in Waterstones, sadly).

The text check hasn't taken too long. I should finish tonight. Definitely a small price to pay for a preview of an excellent art book!

Minoo's site is here I would strongly recommend a visit.

Imagery of the Iran-Iraq War

Touched and deranged,

downcast and sad;

with veilless face,

and no chador;

heedless of arrest,

careless of the Guards.

For eyes she has

two red grapes

fallen off the bunch.

She's mad,

stark staring mad;

she's lost,

lost to herself,

lost to the world.

A straw in the wind,

she's drifting around.

A graveless body,

she's deadened to the world.

Round her neck she has

a pair of teardrops, a curse:

of a dead soldier boots

with laces tied together.

"What's that?", I said.

"My son", she said,

"sitting on my shoulders

with his boots on."

I have posted the painting and the poem before but never together. THe painting is by Minoo Emami. It is inspired by her husband's experience in the war. He was seriously injured fighting the Iraqis. One of his legs was amputated.

The poem is The Necklace by Simin Behbahani, the Lioness of Iran. The last time I posted the poem in 2008 one of the comments made was "Jesus, that was DARK!!". I agree, In my mind it is as powerful as any of the works of Wilfred Owen.

I wanted to see how these two powerful indictments of war went together. I think they work together, others may not of course!

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.