Sunday 29 November 2009

where is the freedom? (Sculpture By The Sea 2009)



This work is by an Iranian artist, Mona Aghababaee. She saus : "Inspired by Ancient persian culture, the symbols are used in a new context and are connected with the social, political and cultural conditions in Iran."

There is quite a story behind this sculpture. It won the $5000 prize for young sculptors, but in an ironic twist on the theme of the work - freedom - the Australian embassy in Tehran denied her a visa to come to Australia to collect her prize and see it displayed.

She had "lots of problems" exhibiting her art in Iran, she said, and entered Sculpture by the Sea after finding information about it on the internet. She had to borrow money to pay for the transportation of her work to Australia.

The cypress tree once symbolised freedom in Iran, but today ''its symbolism is simply denied'', Ms Aghababaee said. ''We live in a country that hasn't any freedom.''

Read the full story here.

3 comments:

  1. Sydney's sandy Sally showed some spectacular social symbolism sculptures Sunday!

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  2. As that you are into photography, I thought that you may be interested in a monthly blog posting called “5 on the fifth” where You can either take 5 random pictures of anything that happens to you on the 5th of December (or the days leading up to it) or perhaps go for my suggested theme.

    Just post your pictures on your own blog and then post a comment on MY blog with your name, location and link to your site – I then update the entry so the world has your link. Remember to mention my blog on your own blog so that your visitors get to see the other contributions.

    Interested?

    Here’s a link to my blog:

    http://thestateofthenationuk.blogspot.com/

    and a link to the “5 on the fifth” entries:

    http://thestateofthenationuk.blogspot.com/search/label/5%20on%20the%20fifth

    ReplyDelete
  3. A meaningful work; a sorry situation.

    ReplyDelete