“The New York Times” has an interactive feature on part of a new exhibit by Iranian artist Negar Ahkami.
Ahkami's piece “The Fall” speaks to the country's political and cultural upheaval, which is especially evident this week as thousands rally on the streets for their candidates in the June 12 presidential election. "The Fall" shows Iranians leaving a utopian homeland in chaos, passing Persianate, patterned scenery on their way, and escaping to what “The New York Times” describes as "an uncertain — but consumerist — future." That consumerist future has long been demonized by the ruling party, but it tantalizes the young, hip, jeans-wearing crowd -- now a full two-thirds of the population -- leading to what many think will be a politically definitive clash between modernity and the values of a 30-year-old revolution.
Read the article on Negar Ahkami and her Pakistani co-exhibitor here.
-- Kristin Deasy
Ahkami's piece “The Fall” speaks to the country's political and cultural upheaval, which is especially evident this week as thousands rally on the streets for their candidates in the June 12 presidential election. "The Fall" shows Iranians leaving a utopian homeland in chaos, passing Persianate, patterned scenery on their way, and escaping to what “The New York Times” describes as "an uncertain — but consumerist — future." That consumerist future has long been demonized by the ruling party, but it tantalizes the young, hip, jeans-wearing crowd -- now a full two-thirds of the population -- leading to what many think will be a politically definitive clash between modernity and the values of a 30-year-old revolution.
Read the article on Negar Ahkami and her Pakistani co-exhibitor here.
-- Kristin Deasy