Immortal Tulip

“Immortal Tulips” is the Graduation Exhibition of Shamim Aghaaminiha at the end of her Master of Fine Arts program. In her exhibition, she presents five pieces, including “Blood Rain,” “As Gentle as Death,” “Bloody November – آبان خونین” “One Step Forward,” and “Ayatollah’s Office.”

By presenting a variety of installations in this exhibition, using the three simple motifs of tulips, nooses, and threads, she creates an atmosphere to immerse the audience in her emotions regarding her country’s situation, Such as mourn, loss, terror, desperation, and sorrow.

The goal of “Immortal Tulips” is to tell the story of Iranian heroes who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of Iran. Aghaaminiha praises their courage and defines “Immortal Tulips” as a memorial for them. she writes as such about the exhibition:

“This exhibition is a memorial for freedom martyrs.

About Iranian heroes who went out to fight against the devil to liberate their homeland from the Islamic Regime.

I remember them every day and this remembrance evokes my emotions.

I remember them and praise their courage.

I remember them and I feel weak to save them.

I remember them and imagine their loneliness in their last moments.

I remember them and imagine their pain.

I remember them and think about their mothers.

I remember them and regret their gone dreams.

I remember them and imagine their lost future.

I remember them and mourn.

I remember them and cry.

I remember them and scream.

I remember them and am angry at Khamenei.

I remember them and resent Khamenei.

I remember them and feel I should take revenge.

I remember them and feel scared if I see what they have died for is lost.

I remember them and feel alone if nobody else remembers them.

I remember their courage and feel like I am being a coward.

I remember them and know my mission is to fight for what they fought for.

I remember them and feel responsible to be sure they are not gone for nothing.

I remember them and want you to remember them too.

I remember them and want to make others remember them too.”

Her method is to create a visual translation of these emotions through metaphors. She uses Persian poetry as a bridge between abstract emotions and visual language, that’s why she uses the tulip as her predominant motif it is a symbol of martyrs in Iran and is used plenty in Persian poetry literature and folklore mythologies.

All the elements of “Immortal Tulips” are metaphors for the current conditions of oppression and murder of people in Iran by the governing regime and its police and militia. The color red is an obvious reference to blood. The tulips stand in for the bodies of the dead, martyrs who have been killed because of their belief in freedom and resistance to the Regime. The overall darkness within the gallery represents political suffocation. Nooses refer to unaccountable executions in Iran and represent systematic brutality, and the red threads are evocative of blood drops falling.

For over 40 years, Iran has been under the rule of a theocratic regime that has brought darkness upon citizens, especially women and girls. “Immortal Tulips” is Aghaaminiha way of expressing sorrow and anger about the human rights violations inflicted on the Iranians. She shares her grief to build sympathy and understanding among Canadian audiences and tries to be a voice for the courageous Iranian people risking their lives for liberty.

Annette Wieviorka, a French specialist in the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish people, acknowledges that political testimony can be transformed “into a work of art” if one experiences suffering inflicted by an oppressive regime. (Kia Lindroos, Frank Möller 2017, 36) Aghaaminiha says; “As far as my personal experience goes, I was affected by general injustice and oppression during the 27 years I lived under the Islamic regime. Now that I have left, I am a witness, and my art is a narration of my suffering in those years and of my witnessing how the rest of Iranians are still suffering in Iran from brutality that is even worse than I experienced.”