Artworks by Iranian POWs on display at Saba institute
Tehran’s Saba Art and Cultural Institute affiliated with the Iranian Academy of Arts is playing host to the 1st Visual Arts Festival of Iranian Prisoners of War (POWs).
Artworks created by former Iranian POWs are on display in an exhibition that opened Tuesday in the presence of a group of officials.
The festival has been established to commemorate August 17, which is the anniversary of the repatriation of the first group of Iranian POWs from Iraq in 1990.
Iraq imposed a bloody war against Iran in 1980 that lasted until 1988 and led to many human casualties and much material damage.
Secretary of the festival Habibollah Sadeqi expressed hope that the event would continue in the coming years and said, “The bravery and sacrifices of these prisoners have only been depicted in a scant few movies. This fact forces us to make a great change in order to move forward in a serious approach to this important topic.”
Displayed in different sections of painting, poster, illustration, sculpture photo, and video art, the exhibit explores resistance during the war, creativity and prisoners’ potentials, which blossomed during their captivity, and manifestations of captivity.
The festival is one of the largest of its kind in depicting these concepts, thoughts and values of freedom.
