Can I paint without paint and brushes? Artist Mustafa Azmitabar replied with his paintings: Perhaps, try a toothbrush and coffee.
According to the Guardian, on March 31, local time, the Kurdish minority artist from Iran received a receipt notice from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia - his previous self-portrait painted with a toothbrush and coffee was shortlisted for the 2022 Archibald Prize, and his work will be exhibited at the museum, and he will also have a chance to win a prize of 100,000 Australian dollars.
Mostafa Azimitabar self-portrait. Source: The Guardian.
"I didn't have any artistic experience and didn't have the opportunity to ask any art teachers for advice when I was growing up," Azmitabar said, still feeling "overwhelmed" in an interview with The Guardian Australia. He said he didn't think much of it when he first painted the painting, just "found peace in the paper, coffee and toothbrush, just wanted to get away from all the noise and the guards".
In fact, using a toothbrush and coffee is also a helpless move. In 2013, in order to escape the persecution of the Kurds by Iranian forces, Azmitabar crossed the ocean to Seek Refuge in Australia. However, under the Australian government's policy of offshore refugee detention, all asylum seekers who travel by boat to Australia are to be deported to regional pending centres on Manus Island or Nauru in Papua New Guinea (commonly known as "offshore refugee camps") for compulsory centralized detention. Here, almost daily, desperate and almost fatalistic confrontations are staged – detention centers are not having a good time, but they also refuse to leave, afraid that the world outside is not safe. Azmitabar is no exception. He was first taken to Manus Island for six years in detention before being transferred to two hotels in Melbourne for 14 months.
Melbourne's 14 months were more "suffocating" than his detention on Manus Island, which Azmitabar called a "luxurious torture cell" – his only physical connection to the outside world was a window next to the roadside, and his health was deteriorating. According to him, "It was really tough, there were always a lot of officers around and I was under a lot of pressure. The entire detention lasted 2,737 days, and after gaining his freedom, he formally indicted the Australian government for alleged unlawful confinement.
Looking back at his previous detention, when he tried to paint with coffee and a toothbrush without paint and paint. "Coffee and toothbrush represent a kind of simplicity and toughness, they show that I survived, [life] never stopped." Even though he could use real art materials later, he used to go to the supermarket to buy coffee and toothbrushes, plus some acrylic paint.
Along with Azmitabar was his Iranian Kurdish compatriot Farhad Bandesh, who had been detained for seven and a half years. The latter completed more than 100 works of art during his detention.
Farhad Bandesh self-portrait. Source: The Guardian.
"The red, yellow and green on my face are the colors of my homeland (the flag of Kurdistan), while blue refers to the sea I crossed before I arrived in Australia, representing the hope for safety and freedom." Bandesh wrote in the artist's statement. When asked why he is smiling in the painting, he said: "I am really smiling in the portrait, it is a kind of resistance. Although I have suffered the pain brought to me by this policy of the Australian side, they can insult me and hurt me, but I am still very strong, and I will fight for my rights with a smile and for the rights of thousands of innocent refugees. ”
Resources:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/mar/31/painted-with-coffee-and-toothbrushes-kurdish-refugees-enter-the-archibald-prize
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/25/i-never-felt-alone-refugee-mostafa-azimitabar-on-justice-jimmy-barnes-and-freedom-after-eight-years
https://www.smh.com.au/national/all-my-life-was-a-room-refugee-sues-for-unlawful-hotel-detention-20210729-p58dyh.html
Compiled | Shen Lu
Editor | Zhang Jin
Proofreader | Li Ming