Abstract
This article explores a political reading of Iranian modernism and analyses art works through the lens of illness as metaphor. This metaphor first emerged in the discourse of gharbzadegi (westoxification) in the 1960s, when the intellectual Jalal al-e Ahmad likened Iran's adaptation of Western modernity to being infected with a highly contagious disease. This article investigates the visual traces of illness as political metaphor in the works of Jalil Ziapour, Bahman Mohassess, Forough Farrokhzad, and Vincenzo Bianchini, while highlighting how these artists reflected one of the most substantial political discourses of their time.
Recommended Citation
Nahidi, Katrin. "Illness as Political Metaphor in Modernist Arts in Iran." Artl@s Bulletin 9, no. 1 (2020): Article 4.
