Parviz Tanovoli is the father of modern Iranian sculpture – and there’s currently a groundbreaking retrospective in the Davis Museum including many of his Heeches (Heech means ‘nothing’ in Persian). Hear more in /see some images from the show here. As Tanavoli says: ““Heech has multiple layers of meaning – in Persian Sufism it has …
The dust in Ahvaz is at a record 66 times greater than the legal limit: with particles in the air reaching 9985 micrograms per cubic meter. It’s been dusty in Ahvaz for some time – the city is the most polluted in the world according to World Health Organization (2013) data. But recently the situation …
This week a sand cat was released from a Bustard trap in Khorasan. The rare cat received immediate medical treatment, and was released back into the wild the same day. Its capture triggered a search-and-destroy mission for other poachers’ traps in the area. Read more, in Persian, here. Sand cats are the only cat found …
Reza Haeri’s fascinating and very funny film Final Fitting is about a tailor who makes garments for the top religious men in Iran. There are very few films about fashion for Muslim men, but this really gets behind the scenes – showing Ayatollahs being measured and fitted, interspersed with on- and off-duty images of the …
The Brunei Galley is currently showing some of Dr Cyrus Alai’s unique map collection. It’s a graphical journey through the historical representations and culture of Persia. At the opening of the FREE exhibition, Cyrus’ outstanding contribution to scholarship about Iran was praised. His two stunning books General Maps of Persia and Special Maps of Persia …
The Rouhani-supporting newspaper Mardom-e Emrouz featured a photo of actor George Clooney alongside Clooney’s message of support for Charlie Hebdo and its staff – and was then shut down following the outraged demands of many more conservative media outlets in Iran. As Iranwire reported: “The closure also points to a wider problem: Rouhani’s failure to …
The Narges (narcissus) harvest is underway in Fars province. The flower has a prominent place in Persian poetry, literature, and culture as a symbol of beauty and innocence – and Mehr has a photo-gallery showing that while it might be cold and rainy here in London, spring has definitely sprung in some parts of Iran. Enjoy …
Tabriz has the largest covered bazaar in the world: 5.5 km, covering 27 hectares, or 1 million sq metres. It was rehabilitated using traditional building techniques, as recognised when it won the 2013 Aga Khan award for architecture, following on its inclusion as a UNESCO world heritage site. The Guardian has just done a photo …
I visited Bam on 26 Dec 2004 – exactly one year after the earthquake. My friend there told me how he didn’t know how long he had lain under the rubble after the big quake – he said it was worse than being in a food blender: going sideways in all directions, and up and …
Or so says the Economist, in a thoughtful feature article. Read the whole thing here. I wanted to point out the demographics – as shown below. There was a big birth-bulge after the Iran-Iraq war, with the pressure to restock the country with young people. The more recent dip takes Iran back below pre-revolution birth levels: “The …