At the beginning of the ceremony, Hossein Aghaeipour, secretary of the Art for Truth Center, said that the language of art is a language that does not need to be translated and is universal, and we can use art to take a fundamental step in defending the rights of victims whose voices are not heard. Hossein Aghaeipour continued, "The first human rights festival in the shadow was organized by the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism and the Art for Truth Center began in December 2021 with the aim of using art in defending the truth and rights of victims of terrorism." He said, "This festival has been welcomed by artists and due to the novelty of the subject and 80 works were selected from several hundred submitted works, of which 18 paintings reached the final stage and the winners were selected by the judges in March 1400".
The secretary of the Shadow Human Rights Painting Festival continued, "The best works of this festival are about the victims of the crimes of the Hypocrites (MKO), ISIS and Saudi Arabia, and we intend to hold group exhibitions of selected works in the cities of the country and the international arena, the first of which will be in July 2022 in Rasht.
Then, Hengameh Pour Mohammad Gaskari, a university professor and one of the judges of the festival, said about the quality of judging works that art has led to the creation of valuable works and can be used to defend the truth. She said, "The judging of the works was done based on the connection with the theme of the festival as well as the technical strength of the submitted works, and considering that this is the first time this activity was done, it will surely be more successful in the future."
In another part of the meeting, Mr. Yaghoub Estilaf, the husband of Martyr Anis Nouri, stated, "I have a special thanks to Mr. Aghaeipour who created the painting "Sunset in the Sunset" about Martyr Anis Nouri." He added, "The present painting is exactly the same as what happened that fateful day, and this shows his art of painting. The Sunset in the Sunset is the first work in the field of using the language of painting to express the oppression of the martyrs and to defend the rights of the victims of terrorism."
Martyr Anis Nouri's husband continued: "I thank all the artists who participated in this festival and the chosen ones of the festival who are present in today's meeting, and I hope this festival will be a motivation for the presence of the country's artists in this field."
Next, the families of the martyrs of terrorism expressed their views on the festival.
In a part of the meeting Elham Jalizavi, the daughter of the martyr Jalal Jalizavi, one of the martyrs of the Hypocrites (MKO) crime, narrated the martyrdom of her dear father. She said that these works of art are a relief to the victims' families and can create grounds for realizing their rights and influence public opinion in the international arena and with their enlightenment.
She added, "This artistic path is also a new path that was initiated by the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism and the Art for Truth Center and has been an effective action and can facilitate access to justice and truth for us as soon as possible." She specially thanked all the committed artists and those who have come to this field and helped in this process of defending the rights of the victims of terrorism, including her father.
In another part of the meeting, Maryam Masoudi, the daughter of the martyr Zin al-Abedin Masoudi, one of the martyrs of the Hypocrites crime, stated that such activities can show the oppression of innocent people to the world and through art we can prevent the ignorance of the oppressed martyrs of terrorism.
Mohammad Hossein Sabzalizadeh, the son of the martyr Maziar Sabzalizadeh, one of the martyrs of ISIS crime, thanked the organizers of the festival and said, "With these events, we can reduce the bitterness created for the families of the victims of terrorism and reduce some of the pain and imagine their sufferings because many of them are not heard and with such activities we can move to defend them. Martyr Anis Nouri's brother also called for an exhibition of paintings of these works in other countries.
At the end of the ceremony, the selected artists of the festival were awarded plaques of appreciation and cash prizes. The first Human Rights in the Shadow festival was organized by the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism in collaboration with the Art for Truth Center, the Association of Ambassadors for Peace and Friendship, Cultural Center of Nations and the Martyr Foundation Scholars' Center. It was launched with the aim of using art capacities to defend rights of the victims of terrorism and by expanding their activities it will seek to hold group exhibitions in the cities of Iran and in the international arena.
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