Posted at 6am yesterday
In late December, Danielle Lysaught, co-founder of Projet Casa, a contemporary art space on the edge of Jeanne Mance Park, was struck by the courageous revolt of Iranian women.
She contacted Montreal-based Iranian historian and curator Mojeanne Behzadi to quickly put together an exhibition highlighting her struggle, but also that of the Kurds (in Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq), Afghan women, and other oppressed people. “Because it’s not just affecting women, it’s also affecting LGBTQ+ communities and even men,” Behzadi said. True feminism is inclusive of all. And set everyone free. »
We went to the fair on Wednesday. It couldn’t have been better during International Women’s Day. Also, March 20th is Nowruz, the Iranian holiday that celebrates the new year of the Persian calendar. From the very first installation, we have been immersed in the horrors of Iran’s theocracy. Substitute, by Leila Zelli and Guillaume Pascale, features a video in which Leila Zelli pays tribute to Sahar Khodayari, the young woman who set herself on fire in Tehran in 2019 after being accused of trying to attend a football game disguised as a man Match, a pastime forbidden to women in Iran.
Leila Zelli, wearing a blue scarf, sits in the empty stands of CF Montreal, near Saputo Stadium. She is not attending the sports meeting we hear the cheers from. An extract from a poem by the Iranian poet Hamid Mosadegh is embroidered on her scarf. “If I get up, if you get up, everyone will get up. If I sit down, if you sit down, who will get up? »
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Diyar Mayil on the left, Mojeanne Behzadi in the middle and Danielle Lysaught on the right
Quebec-born artist of Kurdish origin Diyar Mayil is interested in illustrating the fact that the number of casualties in popular uprisings is so important and striking that it makes us forget what the pain of each individual victim really is. With her installation Femmestatistics she wanted to show the seriousness of discrimination and at the same time pay homage to the all too often ignored personal suffering.
The work is an abacus, with strands of hair being wrapped around the staffs. When you see this hair, think of global citizens, especially artists who have supported Iranian women by filming themselves cutting a strand of hair on social media. Diyar Mayil also makes an appearance, counting hairs one by one to express the stubbornness, frustration and exhaustion of struggling women.
Mojeanne Behzadi has also chosen to exhibit the sculpture Study for a Garden, 2017, by Abbas Akhavan, the Iranian artist who won the Sobey Prize in 2015 and recently moved to Montreal. The work, owned by the Caisse de depot et Placement du Québec, is a bundle of branches cast in bronze and placed on the ground. The branches look natural and harmless, but are pointed at one end, resembling spears. A tension between peace and violence that sticks to the theme of Vers la liberté.
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Study for a Garden (detail), 2017, Abbas Akhavan, bronze, 50 unique pieces measuring 47 in. x 2 in. x 2 in
On the upper floor, the visitor is invited to listen to an hour-long sound work Making Collective Prophecies by the London-based Iranian collective Only Voice Remains “which acts according to transnational, queer and feminist values”. The sound piece is a montage of testimonies from Iranian, Kurdish, Palestinian or queer women. With poetry, music, reflections and quotes from protests. A touching work that we follow while reading a printed transcription.
The exhibition is accompanied by a community room where you can consult monographs, catalogs and books on the artists and the struggles of those hungry for freedom. This is also the case in Quebec, where we recognize photographer Alain Chagnon’s 1973 snapshot of a pro-choice demonstrator holding a sign that reads “It’s up to the woman to decide.”
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
The common room
PHOTO CHARLES WILLIAM PELLETIER, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Some reference works
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“This community piece is intended to create solidarity,” says Diyar Mayil, explaining the aim of this exhibition. Open up to others, show empathy and support for beings in resistance, but also for these committed artists who believe in the importance of respect, justice and freedom at a time when democratic values have taken the lead in many countries.
To Freedom, at Projet Casa, 4351, Avenue de l’Esplanade, Montreal, through March 26