Harvard University's South Concourse Gallery of the Center for Government and International Studies (CGIS) is a quiet, lofty space bordered by high white walls and streaming with natural light; it was still and sunny the afternoon I visited the airy gallery to review "Walls of Martyrdom." I was struck immediately with an enormous banner looming above the stairwell to the exhibit— a large photographic mural of a street in Tehran, a crosswalk, a traffic light, and the words "Down with USA" emblazoned neatly and confidently on a brick wall.
Perhaps because the city of Tehran has been largely closed to American visitors over the past thirty years, or perhaps because they have become a common sight for Iranians, state-sponsored anti-American murals around Tehran have not been documented to this extent until now. But when Fotini Christia, a Ph.D. candidate in public policy, visited Iran last year, she felt compelled to record what she saw. The "sheer number and size of the murals along with their powerful iconography and aesthetics, set me on a quest to systematically document them," she explains. While taking classes in literature at the University in Tehran, she borrowed a high-resolution camera and began mapping the city's propaganda murals.
The result is an exhibit that is impressive both in its magnitude and its detail, which includes a fifty-foot long cityscape design of Tehran, a geographical map of the murals' locations, several installation pieces featuring replicas of martyrs' shrines, and a number of enormous murals suspended around the walls of an outdoor courtyard. While the majority of the exhibit is composed of large juxtaposed murals, there are several pieces that add even further depth to the exhibit; the martyrs' shrines contain photographs and replicated dog tags, which feature religious writings on them.
On another side of the exhibit, it's possible to weave in and out of murals, giving one the feeling of walking through the streets of Tehran. This installation features photographs of the defaced walls outside the former United States Embassy. Muralists painted a skull over the Statue of Liberty's face and emblazoned the mural with anti-American sentiment. Against a far wall is a collection of murals honoring female Palestinean suicide bombers: "God knows I love my children," one is captioned, "but martyrdom I love more."
The exhibit is curated by Iranian designer and architect, Ghazal Abbasy Asbagh. "This project was a child of both of us," says Ghazal. The project began last October, and was almost entirely funded by the University. "It was an enterprise that involved quite a few individuals," says Fotini smiling. "But for us, it was a labor of love."
"Walls of Martyrdom: Tehran's Propaganda Murals" at Harvard University's CGIS, 1730 Cambridge Street: until the end of July: Admission is free.
