Ajam Media Collective
Visual Culture
The Poster Arts of May Day: International Worker’s Day in Revolutionary Iran
During the Iranian Revolution, International Worker’s Day became an ideological battleground as competing political organizations— secular and religious— organized their constituents and articulated their interpretation of worker’s solidarity. Visual ephemera related to May Day, such as posters, are testaments to the pluralistic nature of the early years of the Revolution. By looking at various posters disseminated by organizations of the time, one can see how various political factions used similar visual motifs and iconography. Continue reading
Polish Shi’ite Showbiz: Slavs and Tatars on Solidarność & the ’79 Revolution
Part I of III in a series on Slavs and Tatars‘ Friendship of Nations: Polish Shi’ite Showbiz– a multiplatform exhibition, lecture-performance, and publication looking at the unlikely shared story of Poland and Iran. The exhibition opens at REDCAT gallery at the Roy and Edna Disney Theater/Cal Arts in Los Angeles on February 9th and runs … Continue reading
Taking Back the Streets: Iranian Graffiti Artists Negotiating Public Space
Co-written by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Shahrzad Ghadjar and Ajam Co-Editor Rustin Zarkar. Follow Shahrzad on Twitter @spooksvilla. On the eve of Iran’s 1979 Revolution, the Iranian public sphere was transformed into places where information could be exchanged verbally, textually, and visually. The walls came alive with opinions and the chants of the masses. After revolutionary … Continue reading
Kolahghermezi’s Enduring Popularity: Humor & Solidarity in State TV Children's Programming
A guest post on contemporary Iranian pop culture from Maryam Momeni. My first memory of children’s programming on IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) goes back to the early 1980s when I myself was a little girl. During the Iran-Iraq war years that lasted almost a decade we, “the children of wartime” as they would … Continue reading
Politics of the Iranian Box Office: Mocking the Morality Police and Green Movement Conspiracies
Over the last few decades, Iranian cinema has burst onto the global stage, earning worldwide acclaim and, most recently, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. No major film festival is complete without at least one Iranian film these days, and it’s no longer hyperbole to suggest that the Iranian film vies against the Persian carpet … Continue reading
Far From Home: Portrayals of the Afghan Refugee in Iranian Cinema
Part II of a series on Afghan Refugees in Iran. Earlier this month, I completed a post discussing how works of literature from prominent Afghan writers voiced the conditions of millions of undocumented Afghan refugees residing in Iran. These members of the Afghan diaspora have been able to draw upon their own personal accounts as … Continue reading
Lifting the Pardeh on Revolutionary Poster Art
Indiana University will be showcasing “Graphics of the Revolution and War: Iranian Poster Arts” until December 18. On loan from the University of Chicago Library, the exhibit features dozens of political posters disseminated during the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). We are all familiar with political art, whether it be war-time state-sponsored … Continue reading
