Art in the shadow of war: Mannheim artist reports from Tehran

Art in the shadow of war: Mannheim artist reports from Tehran

At a time when headlines are dominated by conflict and fear, stories of hope and resistance attract attention. Mehrdad Zaeri, a creative mind from Mannheim, is in close contact with the situation in Iran, where the situation is tense in the face of an Israeli attack. A friend of his, Shirani, who lives in Tehran's high-rise district of Ekbatan, describes in emails the frightening circumstances under which she and those around her have to suffer. She tells of the oppressive heat, the constant fear and the explosions, the sound of which is fitting for a nightmare. The woman, who works as a screenwriter and journalist, also reflects on her forced separation from her religious parental home and the pressing concern for her friends and family.

“It is unbearable,” she wrote in a letter dated June 14. In the same message she describes how she and her friend S. lie awake at night in fear and hear the impacts. Although her parents urge her to flee to the north, Shirani does not want to leave her beloved Tehran, even if her situation demands it. She plans to pack her things as the pressure and fear grows around her. Two days after her first letter, she took in a friend's cat who was leaving town to help her. “Living together in times of crisis is challenging,” says Shirani, as she tries to find inner peace while managing the chaos around her. Mehrdad Zaeri confirms these feelings and points out that many Iranians have an ambivalent perception: hope for attacks against the regime, coupled with mortal fear of the possible consequences. According to [SWR], the Iranian people are caught between two fronts: either they fight against the oppressive powers of their country or they try to escape the horror.

Literary voices from Iran

What is happening in literature? Gerrit Wustmann, a renowned poet and expert on Iranian contemporary literature, asked himself this question. He notes that the media demand for literary works related to political events is increasing. Despite the hurdles of censorship and political pressure, there is a thriving creative scene, particularly for women. Wustmann suggests discovering the magazine “there – reading series for contemporary Persian literature”, which presents impressive stories that often have a Kafkaesque or surreal character. Surprisingly, over 90 percent of the works submitted were by female authors, demonstrating a strong female voice in Iranian literature.

In this context, the work of Mehrnousch Zaeri-Esfahani cannot go unmentioned. Her autobiographical stories reflect the pain thresholds of the diaspora while at the same time building a bridge to the homeland. Her book “33 Arches and a Teahouse” addresses the feeling of traveling and the constant search for structures that establish identity. In the novel, which ends with the haunting sentence: “I am a pilgrim from Isfahan, and my pilgrimage was to find freedom and peace,” she connects her own story with the collective fate of many Iranians. This happened not only because of the trauma of the Cultural Revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini, but also because of her family's refugee experiences in the 1980s. Her work is also about the incessant questions of freedom and inner peace, which are important not only for her but for many of her compatriots, as the reports from [HSE] and [Deutschlandfunk Kultur] vividly make clear.

The writer's reading at the Heidelberg University of Education on July 7th at 6:30 p.m., with free admission, promises not only literary inspiration, but also a deeper insight into the complex layers of Iranian identity.