Passport of Iran’s most famous sculptor confiscated by authorities

Parviz Tanavoli is not just the most well-known Iranian sculptor – he’s also a collector, historian and the most famous artist in Iran. His exhibition opened in London on Saturday. But Tanavoli can’t visit it, because the authorities confiscated his passport. The government agency responsible for issuing passports doesn’t say when the sculptor will be able to get his passport back and travel outside the country.

Tanavoli, who has a dual Iranian-Canadian nationality, was to attend an event in the British Museum to celebrate the release of his book European Women in Persian Houses. The book, which has no political implications, explores the perception of western women in 19th century Persia.

Nevertheless, border guards confiscated Tanavoli’s passport at Tehran’s international airport, and the sculptor had to spend the whole day in the passport office. However, he didn’t receive any explanations from the authorities.

“I have no idea why they did it... I’m not a political person, I’m merely an artist,” Parviz Tanavoli commented on the situation.

Parviz Tanavoli gained his first success in Iran’s popular art in the 1960s-1970s. In 1971, he was commissioned by the country’s queen to create a sculpture for the shah’s palace. The artist presented an artistic interpretation of the word “heech”, which means “nothing” in Persian. Tanavoli later recalled that he panicked and wrote to the shah that he didn’t mean to criticise his rule and that the work’s meaning was personal to him. The shah was satisfied, and Tanavoli’s sculpture remained in the palace. His sculpture of 1975 The Wall is the most expensive artwork in the history of Near East that costs more than $2.8 million.

The authorities of Iran have been sending strange signals to the country’s artistic community in 2016: two prisoners of conscience have been released in the past two months, but three others were sentenced to prison terms for their work.