Art Against Oppression: The Role of Iranian Creatives in the Struggle

1. Introduction – Creativity Under Pressure

In Iran, where the IRGC and Ministry of Culture impose tight controls, art persists as a powerful form of defiance. From murals on street walls to underground films and diaspora installations, Iranian creatives are resisting through inspiration, symbolism, and subversion. Their work preserves memory, galvanizes protest, and challenges the IRGC’s ideological stranglehold—capturing emotions that traditional reporting cannot. As Ajam Media observes, “artists turned to visual and performance art to make visible the violence of the state and the bravery of protestors”  .

2. Visual Protest: Murals, Street Art & Public Memory

2.1 Anonymous Protest Murals

Street art became a signal of solidarity during the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising. Anonymous murals reused state imagery—red fountains or blood motifs—reclaiming public space as protest zones  .

2.2 Notable Artists: Icy & Sot and Black Hand

Diaspora duo Icy & Sot use installations—like barbed-wire European flags—to comment on borders, migration, and oppression  . Meanwhile, Iranian street artist Black Hand, known as “Iran’s Banksy,” paints on Tehran walls to challenge sexism and social injustice  . Their work transforms the mundane into a canvas of resistance.

3. Fine Art & Installation: Confronting State Violence

3.1 Parastou Forouhar: Mourning Through Motif

Installed in exile, Parastou Forouhar transforms personal trauma into universal critique. Her “Butterfly” series poignantly references state violence, including the 2009 Kahrizak abuse scandal  . Her art embeds Islamic calligraphy and folk motifs, quietly indicting oppression through layered symbolism.

3.2 Khosrow Hassanzadeh: War, Loss, Memory

A veteran and artist, Khosrow Hassanzadeh used public murals to reflect the Iran–Iraq war and social oppression. His mural-size paintings of women in Ashura ceremonies invoked both tradition and resistance  . His art gave a voice to marginalized people, war trauma, and Iran’s collective conscience.

4. Cinema as Resistance

4.1 Underground Filmmaking: Rajabian, Daraei, Rasoulof

 • Hossein Rajabian, banned from filmmaking, released Creation Between Two Surfaces online in protest—highlighting alienation under political oppression  .

 • Javad Daraei, himself tortured by IRGC forces, turned trauma into art—his award-winning Metamorphosis in the Slaughterhouse explores trauma, queerness, and survival  .

 • Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled after a prison sentence, made The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024), blending fiction with actual Mahsa Amini protest footage. Nominated at Cannes and the Oscars, it illustrates how film bypasses censorship  .

4.2 Innovative Tactics to Skip Censorship

By shooting without state permits and smuggling footage abroad, Iranian filmmakers subvert censorship. Techniques like symbolic objects (bags representing forbidden touch) bypass taboos  . These workarounds show artists turning constraints into creative resources.

5. Photography as Solidarity

5.1 Hoda Afshar’s Iconic Work

Photographer Hoda Afshar’s series “In Turn” depicts intimate scenes—like women plaiting hair in defiance—symbolizing sisterhood and resistance. The Guardian featured her powerful rooftop portrait of sisters embracing autonomy  . These images circulated globally, bridging grief and solidarity.

5.2 Diaspora Exhibitions: “Eyes on Iran”

Art showcases such as “Eyes on Iran” in New York amplify diaspora solidarity, bringing protests and feminist resistance into global consciousness. One exhibit displayed murals and bandanas to symbolize protest deaths and international support  .

6. Visual Language & Collective Art Movements

Artist groups networked across Iran during protests, sharing visual motifs as smaller nodes in a mass movement  . This horizontal, decentralized model allowed synchronized visual defiance that echoed from streets to Instagram.

Key forms included:

 • Reusing state symbols repudiated them,

 • Performance interventions staged in public,

 • Repetition as critique—murals echoed across cities.

7. Suppression: Censorship, Arrests & Exile

7.1 State Repression & Surveillance

Since 2022, the Ministry of Culture has ramped up censorship, breached online spaces, surveilled artists, issued bans, and prosecuted dissenters    . Over 15 artists have been charged with “propaganda against the regime.”

7.2 Artist Incarceration & Exile

Filmmakers like Rasoulof face multi-year prison sentences if they return   . Others, including film activists at the Cannes “Seed” festival, remain barred from returning ().

Art, in Iran, carries real risk—and requires exile or secrecy to survive.

8. Diaspora Art as Advocacy

Exiled creators influence both home and global audiences:

 • Installations in Europe and North America bring visibility to protests.

 • Diaspora artists (Icy & Sot, Forouhar) reinterpret Iranian struggles for global contexts     .

 • Their work enters global art venues, forcing the IRGC to appear as both censor and oppressor.

9. Why Art Matters in Resistance

9.1 Cultural Erosion vs. Creative Reclamation

The state uses art for propaganda; activists reclaim it to affirm identity, dignity, and free expression.

9.2 Emotion Builds Empathy

Art connects on emotional levels—photographs, murals, films break through news fatigue and humanize oppression.

9.3 Collective Memory & Documentation

Art preserves evidence of atrocities and protest—murals, films, and installations archive state violence and mobilize citizen memory.

10. Building Power & International Solidarity

10.1 Amplifying Artists & Global Campaigns

Join efforts to spotlight artists, defend artistic freedom, and campaign against censorship laws. Arts institutions must present politically charged Iranian art and demand protection for artists.

10.2 Supporting Digital Resistance

Artists need secure communication tools, financial support, translation networks, and legal advocacy. Support diaspora collectives and their cross-border solidarity efforts.

Conclusion

Under digital surveillance, threats, and censorship, Iranian creatives nonetheless bear witness, inspire mobilization, and craft global advocacy. From protest murals to underground films, they keep the flame of dissent alive—and prove creation can be the raw material of revolution.