Art Aware: A Fire Temple called “Cage of Freedom”

It was a few months ago, I guess, the beginning of 2006, when I was contacted by the “State Museum of Västmanland”. They asked me if I was interested to participate in a sculpture project…

In Sweden, the year 2006 was entitled as “Multicultural year”…a very good opportunity for the foreign artists living in this country….For various reasons, there are currently a lot of Artists here who still suffer from not being understood by their environments…and mainly due to the perception that dissimilarities exist among different cultures, there is not much of a chance left for Artists with different backgrounds…As a direct result of this, majority of these Artists, including me, encounter serious issues, should they intend to enter the Artistic world or even the outside World…

I’ve been fed up and disappointed with seeing myself as an Artist, for quite a while…Tired of continuous quarrel of my Heart with my mind, which was always asking, What do you still struggle for, when people around you, don’t pay attention to your work…. And that’s why I began to rumor about myself. For instance, I told all those who knew me, that I’m not and have never been an Artist…hoping that some day, even my heart, would be tricked by this lie, which would make it easier to completely ignore and forget my dreams in the past…

I was thinking to myself, for how long do I have to keep on fighting?! …for many years, in my own country, I fought against many obstacles including: improper and biased policies, rules and regulations against women, the differences between men and women in the society and the censor, etc….and when I came to Sweden, my only goal was to be able to freely think, write, act and picture, etc…but sadly, it was only left as another dream which never came true...

It’s been a wild and extremely gruel experience to comprehend and figure out the differences which exist between different systems and cultures…to retain your identity as a human being…to protect your soul…I spent most of my time to convince my new society that “I am myself and no body else”….someone who wants to be and live like herself…I spent so much energy to beg my society and environment, not to re-deform me into someone who is a alien to myself... Believe it or not…it is really an exhausting task to become orientated with the new environment, without losing your values, roots and identities and not to be destroyed by “pre-judgments” of various people…

There is an expression which is very popular, at least in Sweden: “Collision of Cultures” …An expression which I can never quite understand… But to be honest, I strongly disagree with it… I believe, cultures would never collide…In other words, they sometimes vary, sometimes blend, sometimes change and sometimes expand and improve…but all these would never imply that humans with any culture, background or history, would be unable to understand each other… In my opinion, the concept of “Collision of Cultures” is merely a shield for those who are reluctant to account for the differences between different people, to cover up and not to understand that even a brother and sister from a family, could be quite different…

I come from a country that for centuries, it’s been a junction for crossing various cultures…People over there, have gradually learned the coexistence of multiple civilizations…and interesting enough, I never came across this “Collision of Cultures” before coming here, although my country owns one of the most diverse cultures in the world…

In all these years, I fought to convince the people who surrounded me, that I am an Artist woman who has great passion for Art…but I suppose I ended up with making them rather more frustrated …and it’s so depressing when I look back at all the efforts that I put in this path and all those destructive comments and criticisms which I received instead, only and only because of my creative spirit…a spirit which not only never faded away, but even stood up more than ever to give birth to another creation...

Regarding my paintings, It’s quite interesting to note that, I’ve never been questioned as to why I have drawn them, or what was the motivation behind creating them …whereas only a few people did NOT ask me, when I’m going to sell these paintings…and this again makes me remember all my efforts that I have put into my creations, which is a small fraction of the burden that any Artist, to some extend, has to carry on his or her shoulders, every day... And then, I ask myself... For how long do I have to sacrifice my Art for just being able to live like a normal human being, with cliché and daily life…

Anyway, let me get back to the sculpture exhibition ….
At the time when I received the offer regarding the sculpture exhibition, I was quite ill… In fact I could never imagine to recover in such a short period… At that time, it was so hard for me to move my body. As a matter of fact, my left hand was literally unable to do any work, what so ever... I couldn’t even walk by my own….I don’t know if it was whether a miracle or something else... But whatever it was, I managed to once again rise from the rubbles which were left from an exhausted Aida…. Sadly, even not a single friend came to visit me, while I was so down…is that perhaps a consequence of that “collision of cultures” or just a very high expectation from an ailing person ?!

Finally, with my shaking voice, I accepted the offer through the phone...it felt like as someone was telling me to accept it and be hopeful about it …

After nearly 2 months, in a cold winter day, I attended the first meeting in a city called Ängelsberg, where the exhibition was going to take place…

Everywhere was covered with snow and I was feeling much better then… After a long time, that trip was the first trip that I was travelling by my own…there were new faces every where and I was staring frequently at the eyes of these “creation messengers” and sometimes I couldn’t leave those looks…I could see the shadows of all the fights, challenges, strives, victories, losses and more importantly the passion and love in their eyes…each of them was coming from a part of the world…we were about 10 Artists…you could easily sense the “feel for creation” among them...

In that meeting, the basic of the project was introduced to us and it was then, when I felt the growth of ideas… But this time, the brain storm didn’t engage all my brain and soul…I just did simple sketches in my mind…there was no rush… I had to refresh all my buried thoughts and capabilities…I knew what I wanted, but wasn’t sure what’s going to happen…

All of a sudden, the image of a fire-temple in the ancient Persia crossed my mind…in front of that pictured temple, with a big fire… I began to dance all night long…

I was surrounded by rising bars which were capturing me... I grasped the bars...and it was then when I witnessed the historic path of current holy temples, after Islam, when were replacing my ancestors’ religion, Zoroastrianism, the strips that are knitted to the shrines, which represent individual’s needs and wants... in front of it, the “holy fire” and “candle light” were visible ……I was again so surprised from seeing clearly how my ancestors have so wisely tried to preserve and protect their beliefs, under the suppression of new religion which they were undesirably exposed to….

In my thoughts, the bars were risen again and again and gradually formed a cage... I was still a bird...a symbol of history...a burnt out phoenix... I pushed the bars with my bear hands...I needed a fresh air...I pushed the bars even more and more with all the strength that I had in my body…

And the sketch was completed in my mind…on 1^st of May (Labor’s day), I posted the sketch to the director of the project… a few days later, I began to provide the required materials for the design and finalizing the procedure for constructing it…

On Tuesday, 17^th of May, in one of my friends’ workshop, the work was finally born... I applied the final paint and in the afternoon, a lady, called Gudrun came to the workshop to take the work to the place of the exhibition… so, we departed… I initially thought, Ängelsberg means “Angel’s Mountain”... but on our way, I realized that I wasn’t quite right about the name of the city that we were heading at…in fact, I realized that there is a bit of history behind this name…however, I still liked the wrong interpretation of this name, much more!!

This time, the face of the city was changed…no more snow...but rather, everywhere was covered with beautiful flowers and light green leaves…a very simple picture of heaven for me…
All the sculptures were supposed to be placed in a park; next to a lake…mine was going to be suspended from a tree…

That location well deserved my beloved temple and the cage of freedom …

I was allocated a cosy room in a hostel, with a small balcony, from which you could reach the yard through a step…the balcony was surrounded with fences that were full of red and yellow tulips...you could see the lake, and further away, on a steep hill, all the gable roof houses in the village were visible…

On that day, at sunset, I was so amazed and enjoyed with the magnificence of the nature, and specifically the sun, and with the hope of seeing the sun again, I danced and danced...even though, for the rest of the week, the sun didn’t show up and the weather was rainy throughout!

In the next few days, I worked on the details of my sculpture and I was pretty cheerful for being in such a heaven.

On Thursday, there was a brief press conference, in which the reporters from TV and the local newspaper came over to report about the exhibition and the contribution of the individuals in this project...The only thing which I could really remember when I was interviewed, was the memory of all those Hero friends of mine who sacrificed their lives to free their souls and thoughts from despotism....all those who gave meaning to “Freedom” and never stopped fighting for it...

The other artists also arrived and joined us on that day…Antonio and Aniela, my neighbours, who were staying in the room, next door… the plan was to have a party in the evening until very late…after the party, we all became so close to each other, as if we knew each others for ages... On Friday night, when we all gathered again, informally this time, I experienced literally, one of the best nights in my life… There were only artists around me on that night and I showed my newly found friends, a taste of an Iranian traditional dance for about 15 minutes... my dance was admired warmly by everyone... I was so glad that by my dance, I could communicate with these people from all over the world, with different languages, cultures and beliefs....also, on that night we laughed on a point for about one hour… When I went to my bed, I was thinking that I would really miss these people very soon...

Saturday, 20^th of May, was the opening of the “Sculpture Park” exhibition and I was asked to perform my dance after the speech, provided the weather remains good... but it was slightly raining and I wasn’t sure until the last minute whether or not, I’m going to dance... Interestingly, exactly one hour before the start of the program, the rain stopped, so not very far from the “Cage of Freedom”, on sands, I started my prayers for freedom...the dance of “Sun”, “Humanity” and “Peace”…

Once the program was over, I returned to my city...on my way back, I was surrounded by a feeling that was expanding my heart more and more... resulting in a heart which by meeting Blanco, Aniela, Antonio, Oleg and others along with the love that I found within each of them, had made them eternal friends for me...Friends that I wished to see them very soon...

Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind... another reason to gather all these people… to meet them up all...perhaps a new project... hmmm...yes, why not??!! Maybe this time, we can all make a sculpture together and talk about the integration of cultures...each of us comes from different part of the world and possess different cultures, but we can prove that if our hearts and souls are united, inevitably, our hands will be harmonized too, which enables cultures to grow, improve and develop together...

Do you think we can initialize a new project???
So the only thing which remains is that I want you to wish us, the best of luck on this path which helps our dreams to come true...

It was quite interesting to see the work of different artists from various locations in the world, being placed next to each other.

Photo Gallery: Multicultural Year (2006) - The Sculpture Park in Ängelsberg

The name of the artists who attended this exhibition, along with the country that they came from are listed below:

FRANCISCO JOSÉ BLANCO………...Venezuela
AIDA FOROUTAN……………………Iran
THIERRY GODET…………………….France
H. N. KODA.…………...……………...Japan
IVANA MACHACKOVA……………..Czech Republic
IAN NEWBERY……………………….England
OLEG NOURPEISSOV………………..Russia
ANTONIO PASQUINI………………...Italy
GILDA PERNA………………………..Argentina
ANIELA WOJDYNO………………….Poland