On the occasion of the exhibition Hannah Darabi – Enghelab Street, The Revolution by Books, Iran 1979-1983, The Eye of Photography returns in images on 5 works presented at the BAL. This is Les Murs parlent by Saïd. Self-published by le Mouvement pour la liberté, in 1979.
Prefaced by Ali Asghar Haj Seyyed Javadi, a writer close to the Mujahideen of the people, this book presents the photographs of an author known as (or pseudonym?) Said.
This work documents the various slogans and phrases that invaded public space during the last months of the Shah regime. It is a “manifesto for freedom and an instrument to fight against the repression of the Shah regime: when the walls take over from those who can not speak,” as the subtitle of the book explains. It tells a story of the revolution through the wall inscriptions, both traces and tangible marks of the events once dispersed, and their take-place when they are prohibited or impossible.
The Walls speak is distinguished by its visual bias: to show walls, streets and squares systematically deserted, thus delivering an unprecedented image of the revolution, usually represented by a static or moving crowd. Wall inscriptions and slogans organize a space of appeal, of political dialogue (“Marx, if only you could be alive to see that religion is not the opium of the people”) and of organization of the riot (“Do not go home”). The majority of the slogans photographed are not in favor of Islam, but against the Shah and his dictatorship, offering here also another reality of the revolution.
Hannah Darabi
Enghelab Street, the Revolution by the books
Iran 1979-1983
Exhibition from January 10 to February 11, 2019
Le Bal
6 Impasse of the Defense
75018 Paris
