Artistry Across Borders: The Seattle-Tehran Poster Show launches this week

Later this week, the Seattle-Tehran Poster Show will debut in Seattle, Washington. This show of stunningly beautiful, provocative, and multi-layered work has been organized and curated over the past several months by Daniel Smith -- an artist and a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's December 2007 civilian diplomacy delegation to Iran -- and Iman Raad, an Iranian artist. I would strongly encourage anyone in the Pacific Northwest to attend the show in person -- it will be held during the annual Bumbershoot Arts Festival, which draws tens of thousands of people each year to downtown Seattle -- and for those who, like me, are nowhere near Seattle, please check out some of these magnificent posters online!

Through the efforts of Daniel and author Charles London, I was privileged to meet Iman (whose name translates as "believe") and two other outstanding young graphic artists, Shahrzad Changalvaee and Aria Kasaei, this spring in Tehran. I was incredibly inspired by the artwork that I saw -- it captured a wide range of emotions, colors, typographic and calligraphic styles, and influences.

We discussed some of the differences between Western and Eastern art -- having grown up during the era of hip-hop, and been influenced by graffiti artists, I was particularly interested in the idea of claiming public space and of the intersections between art and political protest. They noted that "political" posters are not allowed, but that such images and statement might appear in some paintings and photography in their culture.

They also talked with me and my two U.S. colleagues -- my aforementioned friend Charles London and also Gaia Mika (whose husband Hank Brusselback is an artist who creates striking images that reflect on the pain and horror caused by U.S. foreign policy; he has recently completed a powerful series of paintings based on our May 2008 trip in Iran) -- about how many Western poster designers seek to make bold images that don't exhibit any connection to previous works. This is in contrast to their commitment to stay connected to the millennia of Persian history, culture, and art:

In Eastern cultures, you don't see much of the [young people] breaking the traditions. We really respect the traditions. I think that maybe you see that more in Western cultures.

They also spoke to this in the context of "change," which is something we often value highly in the West. Here in the U.S., of course, our national identity is just a couple centuries old, and has been formed by constant change of technology, racial/ethnic identity, and geography. While Iran has seen great changes through its history, the time span is much greater.

Please visit the Seattle-Tehran Poster Show to see for yourself the dynamic interactions between the artwork of young Eastern and Western graphic designers. You'll be glad you did.