Art in the light of Islamic Revolution (5)

The era of sacred defence had a very deep impact on the Iranian art so that this era can be called as one of the brightest eras of the Iranian art.

Throughout this era, many artists used varied methods of Iranian art to create novel works in various domains in compliance with the spiritual climate of the society. Thus, researchers maintain that the most important feature of the first decade of the Islamic Revolution was the presence of religious themes blended with the concepts of the revolution and the sacred defence (8-year war imposed on Iran by the US through its puppet Saddam).

With the outbreak of the imposed war, the Iranian nation unanimously stood firm against the invading regime. The US 8-year war against the Islamic Republic through Saddam has been called in Iran as the sacred defence. The reason is that the war on the Iranian side was to defend its territory, people and, above all, Islamic values. Thus, the epic, bravery and selflessness of the combatants showed other side of the war which is not violent. It was rather a social phenomenon which strengthened divine virtues and values among various strata of the society.

The scared defence paved the ground for emergence of potentials which were hitherto dormant and hidden. Artists, like other people, went to the battlefronts to witness the events of the war with their own eyes. The art of the sacred defence was the continuation of the art of revolution but it was more academic as more students with academic studies rushed to register the epics of the selfless combatants to bequeath them to the posterity. The Iranian artists tried to preserve various aspects of the depth of the belief of the combatants through their art. They embarked more on creation of symbolic works as it is difficult to depict the spiritual values with material means since they are invisible.

One of the major branches of art in the sacred defence era was drawing of the images of martyrs as murals and so on. It should be noted here that the war caused a serious move among artists to draw "realistic" and "surrealistic" paintings.

Thus, for the first time the figurative painting entered the Iranian art.

In every artistic work of the sacred defence, there are resolute and suffering faces who stand firmly against oppression and tyranny. There is no sign of distress and anxiety in these faces. This was evident in the paintings drawn on the bombed civilians.

All of these symbols try to demonstrate the front of truth against the front of falsehood. The front of truth is involved in war to defend its territory and whatever is valuable for it; whereas the front of falsehood has invaded the territory of the truth to dominate it, overthrow the system and pillage its resources.

The symbol of sky has existed in the religious art since old times. In the art and literature of the Islamic Revolution, too, this concept has been paid much attention. It symbolizes the light of spirituality and ascension to the heavens. Unlike human being, the sky is infinite. The cinema of the sacred defence, also, made use of this symbol to suggest the place of ascension and flight of the martyrs to the ethereal heavens or show the divine assistance.

Another noteworthy point is that the artists of the sacred defence have mostly tried to depict the exalted spirit of selfless humans rather than violence in their works. What they tried to portray was the spiritual and lofty state which martyrs and combatants experienced in these conditions. It should be reminded that there were a group of artists who have dealt with the violent aspect of the war as is evident in any war.     

RM/ME