Did Iran Even Have...?
Fourth Year Thesis project at OCAD university
Posters
This project investigates the symbols, shapes, and motifs which have emerged from the censorship of Iranian artists and the suppression of Iranian culture.
It highlights a vital yet often forgotten chapter of Iran’s cultural history. During the mid-20th century, under the Pahlavi monarchy, ballet and opera flourished as part of a broader push toward modernization. Institutions like the National Ballet of Iran and Rudaki Hall became cultural landmarks, staging both Western classics and original works inspired by Persian themes. The 1979 Iranian Revolution marked a sharp break. The new Islamic Republic banned Western-influenced art forms, dissolved institutions, and silenced artists through censorship and exile. As a result, much of this vibrant artistic legacy was erased from public memory.
This poster incorporates blurred archival images to evoke this erasure and asks viewers to consider: What do we remember? What gets forgotten? And how do we uncover the histories we were never taught?
Did Iran Even Have Ballet & Opera?
Fourth Year Thesis project at OCAD university
Posters
This project investigates the symbols, shapes, and motifs which have emerged from the censorship of Iranian artists and the suppression of Iranian culture.
It highlights a vital yet often forgotten chapter of Iran’s cultural history. During the mid-20th century, under the Pahlavi monarchy, ballet and opera flourished as part of a broader push toward modernization. Institutions like the National Ballet of Iran and Rudaki Hall became cultural landmarks, staging both Western classics and original works inspired by Persian themes. The 1979 Iranian Revolution marked a sharp break. The new Islamic Republic banned Western-influenced art forms, dissolved institutions, and silenced artists through censorship and exile. As a result, much of this vibrant artistic legacy was erased from public memory.
This poster incorporates blurred archival images to evoke this erasure and asks viewers to consider: What do we remember? What gets forgotten? And how do we uncover the histories we were never taught?
Process
These Archival images were preserved by Enayat Rezai (opera stage director and administrator active during the Pahlavi era) and compiled by Liliana Osses Adams and posted as an archival source. Its a walk through the forgotten history of Iranian ballet and opera.
Discovering this source immediately made me question what I knew to be the Iranian history before the revolution, which made me do more research and become more interested in this topic. At the same time how to show the erasure of this topic. How to show the act of censoring and erasing figures and people from history. "Did Iran Even have ballet or Opera?" was the question I asked myself which sparked my research and by putting this question on the poster I wanted everyone who looks at this poster to ask themselves the same question.
Process
These Archival images were preserved by Enayat Rezai (opera stage director and administrator active during the Pahlavi era) and compiled by Liliana Osses Adams and posted as an archival source. Its a walk through the forgotten history of Iranian ballet and opera.
Discovering this source immediately made me question what I knew to be the Iranian history before the revolution, which made me do more research and become more interested in this topic. At the same time how to show the erasure of this topic. How to show the act of censoring and erasing figures and people from history. "Did Iran Even have ballet or Opera?" was the question I asked myself which sparked my research and by putting this question on the poster I wanted everyone who looks at this poster to ask themselves the same question.
