The men bent in prayer to God
The men bent in prayer to God and the government airplanes arrived, Ardeshir Mohassess, 1977, NYC, NY.
For this week's assignment I wanted to highlight a true
expert in civil disobedience, Ardeshir Mohassess. The native Iranian satirist grew
up under the oppressive rule of an extremist government during the late 1930s.
Throughout his life in Iran the social climate of his country progressively
lowered as citizens were mistreated and subjected to unfair conditions. To show
his support for his homeland he openly mocked the Sha, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi,
through drawings that the ruler thought painted him in a bad light during the
peak of civil unrest in the country in the late 1970s, just before the Iranian
civil war in 1978. His drawings eventually reached a breaking point with the
Iranian government and in 1977 Ardeshir Mohassess fled Iran and immigrated to
New York City, New York where he continued his work against the Sha with more
vigor than before. These drawings were crude, raw, and expressive which spoke
on the way his fellow countrymen felt towards the government.
Above is one of my
favorite pieces from a collection published in 1977 titled The men bent in
prayer to God and the government airplanes arrived. Mohassess pulled no
punches when it came to speaking against corruption. While cartoonish in
nature, his sketches were violent and graphic and felt authentic towards the
injustice happening across the world. In this piece the use of color, or lack thereof,
paints a bleak picture of the social and physical environment of Iran during
this time and gives viewers the opportunity to explore the gruesome scene
without the opportunity for distractions to guide them away from the message. I
also appreciated the use of jagged lines to portray the ugliness of the scene. From
the airplane to the hair of the people on the ground everything feels chaotic
and dirty, which perfectly portrays the tone of the image and the greater tone
of his home country. Although simple, by combining elements of color, jagged lines,
and dark tones into his work Mohassess provided his audience with an inside glimpse
of his feelings towards his home country’s unjust government.
The men bent in prayer to God and the government airplanes arrived stood out to me personally because of the context behind the sketch and the moving imagery. Personally, I can’t imagine the guts it took for a man to stand up to an oppressive government party, flee his home country in fear of death because of his actions, and STILL have the will to fight back from across the world. The piece resonates with the “Fight the Power” feeling that is embedded within American culture and inspires feelings of revolution towards enemies of freedom and justice.
If this lane of art interests you as well, please feel free to use the link below to see more about this piece and others like it:
www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/t-magazine/most-influential-protest-art.html
Works Cited:
The New York Times. "The 25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II." https://www.nytimes.com, 15 Oct. 2020. Accessed 11 Sept. 2024.
This political cartoon looks so simply drawn yet it speaks volumes! Thank you for sharing this piece. I have never seen it before. I appreciate you setting up the context of the picture, it really adds to the feeling of injustice and anger from the artist. There is so much said in the lines in this picture. You did a great job pointing out the jagged lines everywhere, depicting the chaos and the tone. Looking at the dark, thick lines of the airplane compared to the praying men, there is a striking contrast. The thick, dark lines give me the feeling of power, control, and strength. The bullets in the backs of the men show unwanted force from that power. And the men have lighter lines, which portrays more vulnerability. The contrast drives home the imbalance between the two!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this!