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Kundai Marunya

Art Correspondent

An inaugural art competition on the cultures of Islamic Republic of Iran has exposed Zimbabweans to a deeper understanding of the country’s founding principles and values.

This demystified a blanket view that Iran is a war torn country that is not safe to live in while its citizens are viewed as violent terrorists.

Participants who took part in the competition’s various categories that included visual art, essays and poetry had to carry out research on the cultures of Iran and express them in their different art forms.

Professor Kudzai Biri who took first prize in the essay category wrote a paper on politics, religion and culture of Iran paying special attention to the significance of the 1979 Imam Khomeini Revolution, Iran National Day and its implications to Zimbabwe.

Speaking at the awards ceremony held by the Cultural Centre of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Mount Pleasant, the renowned academic said her visit to Iran for studies changed her view of the country.

“What I was socialised to believe, for example that Iran is a war tone country and going there would lead to my imminent death at the hands of terrorists and what I saw is very different,” said Prof Biri.

“These false beliefs are inflamed by the media thus in many instances Islam is labelled a terrorist religion which from my experience is very false.

“During my visit I came across many religious leaders who are fighting terrorism and religious extremism.

“Islam is guided by the Quran which is the basis of the values and guiding principles of Iran.

Some of these values clash with those of the global west thus the tension with countries like United States, same as the clash with Zimbabwe where the west labels some of our traditional religious and cultural practices abusive.”

Celebrated visual artist Raphael Jamu who won first in the visual art category said his work was inspired by a research in the Iranian way of life.

“To depict a people’s life more accurately one has to become one with them, study how they live and understand what makes them, their culture and religion,” he said.

“I got a chance to learn all this at the Iran Culture Centre and this inspired the work I submitted for the competition.

“I’m happy for this win but mostly for the knowledge I acquired and relations I’m building with people of Iran.”

Iranian ambassador to Zimbabwe H.E Abbas Navazani said cultural relations between his country and Zimbabwe are geared towards building relations.

“Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, religion, concept of the universe, and material objects, and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through and group striving,” he said .

“Culture is communication and communication is culture.

“I wish to say today, cultural relations between countries are geared towards strengthening the relations between nations- regionally and internationally.”

Ambassador Navazani alluded to relations dating back to Zimbabwe’s armed struggle and various Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) between University of Zimbabwe and University of Tehran.

“The presence of embassies in each other’s country is further testimony to the good relations between our two nations and helps the dissemination of information for the enhancement of the already existing good relations — economically and politically,” he said.

“This can only be possible if there is a fusion and understanding of each other’s culture.”

National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) deputy director Josiah Kusena said the competition has created an opportunity for local artists to be recognised in Iran.

“This was a great opportunity for local artists to be recognised outside the country’s borders even in Iran which is crucial and they build their careers,” he said.

“We are hoping to grow the competition into a national event reaching more people and use it as a basis of a bigger cultural exchange program where visits for local artists to Iran are facilitated as well as for the artists in Iran to visit the country and familiarise with our culture”.

50 artists took part in the competition with only 11 finalists being picked for the awards.

Winners in the essay competition include Tanatsirwa Philbert Tanhamira, Lawrence Tsuro, Yasin Adam, Ken Mudzingwa, Mustafa Matola and Salim Chira while Winston Thulani Mudumo was the runner up in the visual art category.

Assadi Hussein Mudzingwa won the first prize in poetry with the poem titled “It Wasn’t Seen Coming” while Joseph Ndaudzwa and Doc Sim took second and third positions.

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Cultural Counsellor Hamid Bakhtiyar said response to the competition was encouraging.

“This was the first time holding an art competition, however, not our first exchange program or participation in the arts as we have worked with various galleries in the past including the National Gallery of Zimbabwe,” he said.

“I believe our languages may be different by the language of art is universal thus we will continue promoting cultural exchanges and synergies between Zimbabwean and Iranian cultures as a way of solidifying already existing good relations between our countries.”