The #NotACrime global street art campaign teamed up with curators and street artists in New York City, as well as in Brazil, South Africa, and Australia, to produce murals highlighting the denial of higher education to Iran's Baha'i religious minority.
IranWire's new series featuring the artists and their murals will continue over the coming months as the #NotACrime project spreads to more cities around the world.
Brooklyn based duo ASVP use their art to solve problems of personal importance to them. When approached by the #NotACrime team, they believed they had to “solve a problem important to others, internationally.” Their mural in New York City formed part of a larger campaign for the rights of Baha’is in Iran, who are denied access to university.
The pair began working together in 2007, combining multi-layered images with a mishmash of Eastern and Western graphics and bright, bold colors. “For this image we couldn’t be too aggressive or offensive so we chose something that embodies the issue directly: a pencil,” ASVP said. “We wanted something that cut across audiences. All American school children have used this pencil — and most probably Iranian children too.’
The ASVP mural presents a lead pencil in bright yellow. Threatening spikes cover the simple object, transforming it into a symbol of learning and education under threat — a reminder that Iranian authorities deny Baha’is a basic, fundamental right: The right to pursue knowledge. The inscription “No Writer Should Live In Fear” appears alongside the image of the pencil.
ASVP painted their mural over summer 2015 in New York, following the unveiling of a series of artworks by Alexandre Keto, Marina Zumi and Jason Woodside in the city. These artists transformed the Amsterdam News Building in Harlem, and also defended education equality in Iran.
ASVP believe they have a role to play in helping people find out what is going on Iran.“It touches a nerve when draconian sentences are given to people and when everyone knows on a basic human level this is wrong,” said the artistic pair. “Street art can bridge a gap.”
Related articles:
#NotACrime: Alexandre Keto in New York
#NotACrime Global Street Art: Johannesburg
#NotACrime: A Global street art project for human rights in Iran
#NotACrime Street Art Provokes Debate in NYC
#NotACrime Launches Street Art Campaign in NYC to Expose Human Rights Abuses in Iran
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