#NotACrime: Dave the Chimp’s human “beans”

The #NotACrime campaign, a worldwide street art project to advocate for human rights in Iran, landed in London on January 8, with a mural at the prominent Village Underground street art wall on Holywell Lane in Shoreditch.

#NotACrime campaigns to stop the human rights violations against Iranian Baha’is, who are barred from studying and teaching at universities because of their beliefs, and encourages universities around the world to admit Iranian Baha'i students. Maziar Bahari, founder and director of IranWire and a former Newsweek journalist who was jailed in Iran in 2009, started the initiative.

“The idea of this campaign is to fight bigotry, ignorance, Iranian dictatorship and the discrimination against Baha’i’s of Iran with art,” said Bahari, who was also the subject of Jon Stewart's film Rosewater. “We have to persevere with creativity as much as the Iranian government perseveres in discrimination.”

Dave the Chimp, a British artist and illustrator based in Berlin, painted the new London mural. His depiction of human “beans” parading placards with positive slogans is a major new contribution to the campaign and focuses specifically on the persecution of Iran’s Baha’i religious minority. His work mixes cute and childlike images with political messages.

“When you cut people out of your life because of their beliefs, their sexuality, their skin color or their gender, you’re making your life smaller — why would you want to have a smaller life?” said Dave. As well as the large-scale work on Holywell Lane, the artist created 20 smaller pieces across London. See more of Dave the Chimp’s work on his site.

“I like Dave’s work,” said the mural’s curator, Cedar Lewisohn, who has overseen projects around the world, including for the Tate Modern. “It’s simplistic, graphic and bold but it has a political edge to it.” Lewisohn also worked with Dave the Chimp on his other smaller ”mini beans,” which appear in different locations across London. ‘Dave the Chimp’s piece will take a complex political subject and make it understandable for people who will see it.”

The artist completed the mural in a few days, despite low temperatures and unpredictably sporadic rain, attracting the attention of passers-by. “I walked past earlier when it was just a white wall with orange blobs but I knew straight away it was going to be Dave the Chimp,” said one person who saw the work in transition.

Others asked the meaning behind the mural. “Growing up here, you take education for granted. If you didn't have access to education, it would be difficult to be a constructive contributor to society,” said one onlooker. “Being denied access to education is being denied access to humanity,” said another.

“Just chill, stop!” Dave the Chimp said in a recorded message addressed to the Iranian government. “These people have got things that will make your life better, not worse. They are not taking anything away from you, they’re adding – so just relax!’

Authorities frequently jail members of the Baha’is community, Iran’s largest religious minority, on false charges. They also deny them access to higher education. Thousands of Baha'is currently study through an underground education system called the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE).

#NotACrime began in New York City in September 2015 with 11 murals on education equality and freedom of expression across the city. It has since spread to Brazil, South Africa, Australia and the UK.

The New York campaign attracted significant media attention, with articles in the New York Times and the Washington Post, as well the Associated Press, and television coverage on Al Jazeera America and a popular Facebook video by NowThis.

Dave the Chimp’s London mural by can be seen on the campaign website at notacrime.me or on Periscope, along with a replay of the live feed showing the painting of the mural in action and informal interviews with passersby and campaign director Maziar Bahari.

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