The 300th Night of Memory -3

Memories Are Formed Based on Personality of the People

Maryam Rajabi
Translated by Ruhollah Golmoradi

2019-3-19

According to Iranian Oral History Website, the 300^th memory night of the sacred defense was held in Sooreh Hall of Hozeh Honari on Thursday, February 22, 2019. In this session, Massoud Qandi, Hossein Noori and his wife Nadia Moftooni, Abdolhossein Mokhtabad and Abdolhamid Ghadirian expressed their memories of the Iraqi imposed war against Iran. In the first and second parts of this report, you read text of part of expressed memories in the 300^th memory night.
In the same program, Abdolhossein Mokhtabad, a traditional Iranian music singer, said: "Hozeh Honari is our house, and we were there in 1980s and friends were also gathered there. I tell of Rasoul Mollagholipour, director of cinema, who whenever we were with him, we were all excited. I was one of staunch customers of book of Morteza Sarhangi and organization under his supervision." Then audiences of the program enjoyed two performances from Abdolhossein Mokhtabad.
The last narrator of the 300^th night of memory was Abdolhamid Ghadirian. He was born in Tehran on 1961. He is a MA of painting and has won dozens of medals, statues, awards, ranks and honor in his work and has skill in designing scene, costumes, decor, and grimm. The result of his art and work is explicit in sacred defense films and historical, religious and religious serials. Abdolhamid Ghadirian said, "Most of my life spent is Hozeh Honari atmosphere. When the revolution was occurred, an atmosphere was created and everyone felt they were enamored. If I want to give an example, it is like weather of Arba'een. Arba'een is somehow that man in a path to be directed toward a specific destination that is his/her Imam. Hardships are not seen in this pat but are beautiful, the faults are pretty. In the year that the revolution took place, and years after that, difficulties did not annoy, but created empathy. People who did not have any class relationship found each other and gathered together. In that situation, a place was created by artists called field of Islamic art and thought. All blossomings that are narrated about the center guys as artists who are first-class in many fields in the country are because of the fact that are originated from those days; the days that they experienced and, as if were with light of God and circulated in light of God. All enemies become companions to put off light of God, as it is today, but they cannot, and God will complete his light. God has given us all a nature, and movement key of that nature is the very light of God. This happened in the revolution too, and God mobilized all the hearts with the light he sent. People jumped for joy. All those incredible and strange epics, and against it all those difficulties and brutality of the enemy was because of that light. It elevated the good and humiliated the bad. In that atmosphere, artists found themselves and field of art and Islamic thought was formed.

Looking at the past is very pretty. Memory is nice when to be light of the future path. Everyone's memories to be created based on his character. I was very sensitive about this where I'm going to go? How do I go? What is my future? It was between 1986 and 1988 when I felt that a lot of thought and intellectual atmospheres had changed, and therefore, one of discussions that I arose in meetings was that: as long as there is this current space let's have an explanation of it. At that time, when we were less educated, we were told that let the time pass and this would happen in its place. Unfortunately, time passed, and this did not happen, and the atmosphere changed. Hozeh Honari was very active in field of the fronts in that space and time, and the guy were generally half of their time in the front, and I also took part with the guy in advertising spaces. Sometimes we also went to do advertising and taking photo before the attack. We went to Abadan and Khorramshahr with the guy. It was a strange atmosphere, and the kids mood was fascinating to me as an artist who wanted to record that feeling in his work; their feeling in time of dispatch, that for what these kids went? Did they go there to do what? Explaining the space we were in was very difficult for me, but we all felt it. If I want to convey that sense in a sentence, my feeling from the front was the same poem "The fight was for headband of Fatemeh (wife of Imam Ali)..." sense of the word was very tricky in the front and generally I was involved with it as if, when we returned to Tehran, we really cried due to we were going from paradise to the space we should endure. I was a student at that time, and university atmosphere was full of contradictions that the enemy had created, and it was really hard to tolerate. Whenever we endured hardly and we wailed, in order to calm down and to heal our soul, we would go to that spiritual space. We helped, but we did not go for help. For us, as artist, it was very inspiring to be in that spiritual space. I remember once the guard at the entrance of Hozeh Honari told me you had to clock on in order to be cleared your work time. I treated him badly at that moment, so later I apologized him. Mr. Massoud Qandi and I were 24 hours in Hozeh Honari and everyone said you two people own three parts of six of here; that is, we guarded at nights worked in days. I became upset due to the task (clocking on) because there was Hozeh Honari and this should not be said.
I did not go to the front to create a work, but I would go more to understand space more. I knew that this space was not lasting, and this point was very important to me. My concern was that decide to explain this space, because if knowledge did not replace this space, when it was over, we were bewildered. Personally, I would go there to be with the fighters and breathe that atmosphere. We were there for a long time and I went into the trenches to talk with the guy and see their mood in nights and days. So, we drew some boards and put them in the headquarters. We produced promotional works and posters, and conducted things that were exciting for the front, and took music bands, but these were not goal. Our goal was to use that space, and to record a writing for a future that the space no longer exists. There also interesting events happened. Once we went to Abadan with Mr. Hessamodin Seraj's music band. We were preparing equipment in the hall when we heard jangling and chanting. One of the guy came in and said that there were a number of people had mobilized to stop you due to that the performance was lyric music. We were afraid, because we both had tried hard to bring the devices there, and that those were very expensive. Everyone took a few pieces of those instruments. I took one or two pieces of instruments and went to rooftop and prayed that there would be no problem. In short, those friends came and made carped. We had a clergy in the group who talked with them and the dispute ended. At that time when we started artwork, the atmosphere was not at all like today. Everything seemed to be forbidden, from painting and sculpture to rest of the arts. Now, if there are sculpture and painting, it's because the guy worked and proved that these arts can also move towards the goals. At that time, nobody had an image of artwork.

In the frontline trenches I saw posters produced by guys of Hozeh Honari. There, when we were asked what is your job? We showed posters. Our identity card went before us. From a time onwards because of the fact that we did not have explanation, and that atmosphere and space was also receded, these artists were no longer used fundamentally. It is true that we were all employed, but in the early, in Hozeh Honari, we all produced goal and movement, and we attained a strange sympathy and help in the works. Many artists who now look at us as inartistic, at that time wished to come to the group and they came. Many of them came and created works too. When you went to the front line and saw that there were two painting board of you next to Qur'an and Nahj al-Balagha, and two other prayer books, a good feeling was generated because these works had influenced. No one ordered them to plant those boards. Or in the same city, the grocer of neighborhood, who was father of a martyr, had planted near his martyr's photo, a poster of Hozeh Honari. Our current cultural situation is also a result of influence of art. Impact of art on moral and sociological system is very heavy. It can be both a very destructive weapon, and a constructive to open the way for the future."
Ghadirian in response to question of davood Salehi, the session presenter, who asked if he wanted to draw a picture of the sacred defense days which moment does he draw, answered, "The first board I drew was image of a martyr who dies a martyr in Imam Zaman's arms. My second board is Behesht-e Zahra board that Hazrat Zahra (S) sitting next to family of martyrs. In my third board, the camera is in the midst of the enemy that is decomposed and a light comes from the sky and new warriors are coming from a far distance. Recently, I have also worked on collection of boards of Hossein (as) heaven. My view in all these works is that I say we lack of a view that we have all of these problems, that is, presence of heaven in our real life means presence of truth in reality. This is Shia's look. Shia, like some thoughts, does not regard God dead; God is closer than jugular vein and is present. Ahl al-Bayt (AS) are present and influential in everything of our life; our problem is that these years we have ignored this presence in our own lives. The main reason why a person embezzle while having a sign (a sing because of praying a lot) on his forehead, or that someone get an astronomical salary and consider it as his/her right is because of that God's presence is not understood. We have to see God in our lives. In the boards I've drawn and am drawing, center of gravity of the story is subject of existence of heaven in life, in war and in Reappearance of Muhammad al-Mahdi."
The 300^th memory night of Sacred Defense was held in Sooreh Hall of Hozeh Honari by the Center for Studies and Research on Resistance Culture and Literature and the Office of Literature and Art of Resistance, on Thursday evening, February 21, 2019. The upcoming program will be held on April 25, 2019.

The 300th Night of Memory -1
The 300th Night of Memory-2