Country of shadows and light
Iran through eyes of a Durbanite
THE name of the Islamic Republic of Iran gives an impression the Asian country will force minority religions to stay hidden away deep in the shadows.
However, Steve Kotze, a researcher at Durban’s KwaMuhle Museum, discovered on a recent trip that other cultures are celebrated in museums.
“What is fascinating is that an Islamic government, which is one of only two Shia governments in the world – the other being Iraq – is fully aware of the global importance of its Persian history,” he said.
“All sites are carefully curated and looked after. They have amazing museums and explanatory panels, in English and Fasi.”
An example of this religious tolerance was a wellkept shrine of the Zoroastrian religion, which is different from Islam, where priests have kept a sacred fire burning for 1 300 years, throwing a log on hourly.
And minority religions are given special representation in Parliament.
Kotze travelled with a group put together by former politician Graham McIntosh. On his return, he has been able to report back to his senior, Sinothi Thabethe, who saw the opportunity for Kotze as fitting the city’s interests.
Thabethe allowed him to travel in work time, with a view to getting ideas toward displaying more visual art in public places in Durban as a way of helping explain what happened at various spots around the city.
“One of the most noticeable things is the large number of murals, billboards and statues that depict events of the 1979 revolution.
“People who died for the revolution are honoured so visibly and vividly by contemporary culture. It’s not imposed on them by the government,” he said.
“From a South African perspective, I would say it’s quite a big contrast. We tend not to have such large-scale, visible depictions of our recent history.”
He found Iran rich in ruins and other buildings, still in use, representative of civilizations dating back thousands of years.
“They use shadows in their architecture. Bricks are raised so as the day proceeds, the shadows change and become part of the artwork.
“Huge areas of buildings are also decorated with tiles.
“The desert city of Yadz is full of mud architecture, similar to Timbuktu.”
Although Iran is in the same part of the world as Syria, Kotze said there was no sense of the country’s cultural historic gems being destroyed the way Syria’s have in recent civil war.
“One heartbreaking thing is imagining what destruction must have taken place next door in Syria.”
Beyond the museums, Kotze found Iran “full of government propaganda” but without a sense of being in a police state.
“Despite its reputation for women having to be in veils, more than 60 percent of university students are women. It did not strike me as being a culture that oppresses women.
“Women have career opportunities. Doctors and dentists are promoted in posters as both male and female, the women in headscarves.
“Iranians said as women they had as much opportunity as men, except when it came to religious posts.”
Kotze said he saw little evidence of poverty and begging, the latter probably because of public donation to the poor being a huge part of the Islamic culture.
“And no crime. Someone could leave a container of fresh bread outside a shop that was not yet open and it would not be touched.”
He recalled how everything shut down in bazaars (business districts) for people to take siestas. Then there was the food. “They like rich food.” A dish Kotze ate a lot was chicken cooked in pomegranate juice with walnuts.
“It was quite a hazard. People just wanted to feed me but I actually lost weight because, being an Islamic state, there was no alcohol even though I ate more than I normally do.”