|
Our new environmental art festival focused on a campaign against war. Thanks go to my international friends Barbara Roux and Abigail Doan from the USA, who support us, share their experience and sent their designs. For me, the idea of having international artists participate or contribute is very important and symbolically could show the willingness and desire of world nations to work together towards peace. INTERVIEW with Abigail Doan: What is your impression about this festival? I feel that this festival was important to participate in regardless of the international exposure that it gets initially. It is vitally important for Americans and Iranians to become more sensitive towards each other's cultures and environmental issues. Why not highlight the things that unite us rather than divide us? Artists must work towards building up what the media and our geo-political agendas seem dead set on destroying. I chose to participate in this festival as I respect Ahmad Nadalian as an artist and his efforts and work, first and foremost. I also admire the spirit and goodwill of his students. For me this was a chance to connect with like-minded people, regardless of locale. I also trusted them to follow out my design suggestions without my even being there. This was a rare occasion for our two cultures to become one. What is the impact of war on environment? Total devastation of surroundings, spirit, and outlook. It takes years to recuperate from the damage created. War also keeps us from seeing the world as a linked ecosystem, as the acquisition of prized territory becomes the end goal. War prevents us from dreaming about or realizing paradise on earth, a conversation that Dr. Nadalian and I have had in the past. What we environmental artist can do for global peace? Be humble, sensitive to new opportunities for collaboration, and share our visions openly. Being an environmental artist is no longer about site-specificity, for example, but rather about acting in unison and trying to interpret the fragility of a region that might be foreign to you. It is the "foreign" that needs to become "familiar" and as cherished and protected as our own backyard. neighborhood, or village.
Persian Gulf Environmental Art Festival (More Works) (December 2007)
Second section: Persian Gulf Environmental Art Festival
Environmental Art Festival on the Persian Gulf
Print on Sand in the Coast of Pesian Gulf Works By Ahmad Nadalian
Performance and Environmental Installations
Environmental Installation and Music with Garbage
More: Painting on fabric by colored Earth
Designs on Portraiture by Red Earth
Designs on Portraiture by Red Earth
New works by Nadalian in “Verdearte” 2006: Italy
Environmental Installations and Performance
Designs on Portraiture by Red Earth
Performance and Environmental Installations
Environmental Installation and Music with Garbage
More: Painting on fabric by colored Earth
Designs on Portraiture by Red Earth
Designs on Portraiture by Red Earth
|
|
15th Environmental Art Festival in Iran at the Persian Gulf (January 2008) Report by Ahmad Nadalian Photos by Raheleh Zomorodinia, Mithra Soltani, Mohamad Saybani and Ahmad Nadalian. In many occasions, mostly during the night, we had performances and dances related to local ritual.
Young artists also depicted patterns of living creatures that lost their life due to pollution, which was caused by war.
Collabrative works by Zohreh Riyahi, Zohreh Deldadeh- Photo by Raheleh Zomorodinia
Collaborative work by Tarta Ghodarzi, Atefeh Khas, Zahra Shafiabadi, Mahmood MAktabi, Shahrnaz Zarkesh and Raheleh Zomorodinia
Zohreh Deldadeh
Work by Shahnaz Zarkesh
Zahra Shafiabadi
Collaborative work by Tarta Ghodarzi, Atefeh Khas, Raheleh Zomorodinia, Behrang Abasspour, Hassan Daryapeima, Hesam Al din Mohamadian, Mithra Soltani, Ahmad Nadalian, and artists who made audio - Photo by Raheleh Zomorodinia
Work by Atefeh Khas
During these wars a million gallons of oil released into the Persian Gulf causing the largest oil spill in history. Only in one occasion amount of oil released was categorized as 20 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and twice as large as the previous world record oil spill. Now at least more than 80 ships were sunk to the bottom of the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War, many of which carried oil and munitions.
In 1999, some 400 to 500 tons of fish died in the Persian Gulf, a problem traced to a lack of oxygen in the water and the growth of phytoplanktons.
I continued a project that I started last month (January 2008). In recent years on this island some of the deer died. I used sand stone to make deer feet and printed them on the sand of beach. More Images
The oil released into the Persian Gulf produced devastating consequences on the marine wildlife of the area, including the endangered hawksbill and green turtles. Thousands of cormorants (a type of marine bird) died as a result of exposure to oil or polluted water. Many Karan Island green turtles developed lesions. During the war the immediate environmental problem caused by the oil well fires, in which some 5 million gallons of oil a day were going up in flames (consuming more oil each day than Kuwait sold before the invasion), was in respiratory problems among its citizens. Even now, countries in this region are dealing with problems left from oil that has formed many oil lakes and pools that are sinking into the sand, contaminating some million tons of soil. In 1991, the United Nations Security Council resolved that Iraq was liable for all direct environmental damage to Kuwait's terrestrial environment and to its natural resources. In September 1995, Kuwait filed a $385 million claim against Iraq for environmental damage due to Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. The specific claims made to the United Nations were for damages to health, coastal areas, maritime environment, groundwater resources and desert environment. Acording to http://en.wikipedia.org The cost of one of the wars to the United States was calculated by the United States Congress to be $61.1 billion. About $52 billion of that amount was paid by different countries around the world.
|
