“We see you, we admire you”

La Croix: The images published on the Instagram account @iranianwomenofgraphicdesign are very numerous. How did you make your choice?

Odile Burluraux: We picked up a hundred. We have favored the most creative, the most original, but also those that are rooted in the history of Iranian art. On the other hand, we have excluded the posters which refer to religious history, because they could have been difficult to understand here. With the exception of those showing the tulip, a rather evocative reference to the martyr. Thus none of the posters selected calls for the death of Ayatollah Khamenei or for a change of regime.

We did not want, as a cultural institution, to exceed our missions by an excessive positioning. What we want above all is to give voice and visibility to Iranian women who take liberties with the veil. Our subject is freedom to choose, emancipation. We also want to tell them: “We see you, we hear you, we support you, we admire you. It is on this ground that we place ourselves.

These posters exude great strength. What is she up to?

O. B. : Partly because of seeing them together. This gives the impression of great diversity. Many posters are signed, and by young authors. This is also a strength, because they express themselves while being aware of the risks they run. Actors, visual artists, singers… many artists have been arrested since September. In Iran, art is always a means of circumventing taboos.

To what extent does the Iranian tradition explain the important place occupied by the visual arts in the revolt?

O. B. : There is indeed in Iran a great tradition of the poster and a great visual creativity. This is due, I believe, to the very form of writing (with an alphabet derived from Arabic, editor’s note). It allows, for example, to transform a letter into a lock of hair, which is impossible with our alphabet.

We find this creativity in the posters. There are also references to the tradition of miniatures, but to a much lesser extent because the younger generations draw mainly from global international culture. In their creations, there are references to Eugène Delacroix and Liberty Leading the People, to manga… They want to free themselves from an Iranian straitjacket.

(1) The City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, the Palais de Tokyo, the Beaux-Arts de Paris and the Palais de la Porte-Dorée. Many other establishments in France have adopted the initiative: the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon, the Villa Noailles in Hyères, Les Bains-Douches in Alençon, etc.

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