When artists attempt to cross genres—for instance a ballet mirroring architecture or a cinematic novel—the result is often abstract, distracting, ineffective. Not so with the film Women Without Men, in which Iranian visual artist Shirin Neshat sought to create poetry in her feature film debut (in collaboration with with Shoja Azari). Using allegory, repetition, imagery, and metaphor, the film is a masterpiece of narrative poetry. Often its images are unforgettable.

Women Without Men posterThe year is 1953, when democratically-elected Iranian president Mohammed Mossadegh is usurped by a British-American led coup that restores the Shah to power. Unlike most history, which is told by men, Women Without Men is conveyed through the personal stories of four women whose struggle in a male-dominated society merge to reveal the larger canvas of the downfall of their country. And who better to tell this story but the very women whose oppression mirrors that of Iran? Dedicated to those who fought and died for Iran's freedom— from the 1906 Constitutional Revolution through the Green Movement of 2009—the film appropriately measures the universal devastation of patriarchy with the triumph of the matriarchal spirit.

"How We Live" Is in Sebastião Salgado Tradition of Documentary Photography

Reviewed by Nairi Varteressian

In the context of the "How We Live" exhibition, Sara Anjargolian's photographs demonstrate the validity of the old axiom "a picture is worth a thousand words"—particularly thanks to the sheer audacity of the show's curator and designer, Narineh Mirzaeian. An architect by training who works as a project manager with Frank Gehry, Mizraeian insisted that the images be blown up and printed on large hanging fabrics, and lighted in such a way that the viewer cannot disengage from the striking imagery, but connects with the larger-than-life people in Anjargolian's narrative. The double-sided "posters" are made of fabric that hang from black ropes attached to the warehouse beams. Viewers walk in circles and feel as if they are entering the living rooms of the poor, rather than remaining detached by staring at two-dimensional photographs on a gallery wall.

"How We Live" Exhibit Uses Innovative DesignA photographer and attorney, Anjargolian was commissioned by the Tufenkian Foundation to capture the daily struggles of Armenians. Over 40 large prints of her work were displayed during the "How We Live" exhibit opening/fundraiser that took place on March 26th and 27th at Casitas Studios in Atwater Village. The exhibit included nine families living in extreme poverty in the villages of Geghard, Getap, Nubarashen, Arinch, Vanadzor, the outskirts of Etchmiadzin and even the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. A short documentary showed Anjarolian interviewing some of her subjects in Armenian, with English subtitles. Visit howwelive.org.

Rania MatarBorn and raised in Lebanon, Rania Matar moved to the U.S. in 1984. Trained as an architect at AUB and at the American University of Beirut and at Cornell University, she worked as an architect before studying photography at the New England School of Photography, and at the Maine Photographic Workshops in Mexico with Magnum photographer Constantine Manos. She currently works full-time as a photographer, and started teaching photography to teenage girls in refugee camps in Lebanon, with the assistance of non-governmental organizations, and to teenage refugees in Boston with the assistance of Children's Hospital.

Matar's work focuses mainly on women and girls. Her previous work has focused on the Middle East on women and children, and her projects—which examined the Palestinian refugee camps, the veil and its meanings, the aftermath of war, and the Forgotten Christians: the Christians of the Middle East—intend to give a voice to people who have been forgotten or misunderstood. In Boston, where she lives, she photographs her four children at all stages of their lives, and is currently working on a new body of work "A Girl and her Room," photographing teenage girls from different backgrounds.

Ordinary Lives: your purchase benefits in part LCC (click image to buy)Re

Golnaz Family Reunion, Tehran to LAX: Photos by Shelley Gazin (NFS); All Rights ReservedLevantine Cultural Center's Inside/Outside Gallery presents a roster of six artists in "Artists for Iran," a celebration of the arts and human rights.

Combining cultural diplomacy and human rights, "Artists for Iran" comes on the heels of International Human Rights Day.

Works in the show "Artists for Iran" will remain on display at the Inside/Outside Gallery through December 31, 2009.

Among the participants are:

Anahid Boghosian (artist)
Rabea Chaudhry (artist)
Sophia Gasparian (artist)
Shelley Gazin (photographer)
Maryam Gueramian (artist)
Jessica Shokrian (photographer-video artist)

Contact: Sarah Holswade For Immediate Release
Tel: 310.657.5511
Email: sarah@levantinecenter.org

ARTISTS FOR IRAN
A Celebration of the Arts and Human Rights

Who: Visual artists, poets, writers, comedians, actors and more.

What: A night devoted to literary, visual and performing arts highlighting the issues of human rights in Iran and around the world.

Where: Levantine Cultural Center,
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035

When: Dec. 12, 2009 from 7:30pm to 12am

Details: Free to the public, donations requested, open bar.

Levantine Cultural Center is pleased to sponsor a new project that builds bridges between Americans and the Middle East through both art and youth.

Kiyana dance, mystical whirling weekendOctober 23, Friday, 7-9 pm, Conference and Demonstration

October 24, Saturday, 6-9 pm, Training, Movements & Dancing

October 25, Sunday, 4:30-7:30 pm, Training, Movements & Dancing

Sama'a master Javad Tehranian returns for a national tour with Kiyana presentations in Los Angeles in October, teaching the Persian form of whirling or Sufi dance known as Kiyana.

Wear comfortable clothes and prepare for a three-hour intense dance and exercise workshop (Oct. 23 is a conference and presentation only).

Javad Tehranian teaches vital exercises, infinity respiration, eye exercises, and body discipline, as well as symmetric and asymmetric movements by the method of divided attention, inner development, rhythmical contemplative movements, and the  enchanting, euphoric Sama'a dance.

Kiyana, meaning “the origin”, is a system of movements and internal work coming from ancient Persia; it relates to the education and the complete development, the unity and oneness of the body, mind and spirit, cleanliness, purity, equilibrium, power, health of body, tranquility in the mind and subtility of the soul of human beings.