The Revolution of 1979 sawtwo different cultures clash violently. Overnight women's lives changed. Homeswere taken away, Iranians lived in fear of executions and women lost all power.The atrocities of Ayatollah Khamenei made martyrs of many men and women.
Vahdatfled her homeland and journeyed to Barcelona, London, Texas and,finally, Milwaukee.She finds inspiration for her paintings and prints in the religion ofZoroaster-Baha'i. This belief is one of a healing cycle of life, death, andrebirth. Her abstract painting, A PersianGarden, presents a pregnant womanin a fertile field of pomegranate and fig trees as seen through eyes ofchildren. Pomegranates symbolize knowledge from the tree of life, and figssignify the abundance of food and well being. To portray the violence of theRevolution, a large mural was inspired by Picasso's Guernica.
Hermost recent series of prints, “What WillBefall Her?”and “Objects ofViolence”show the sufferings of women and children in Tehran. Her prints are stripped down of allcolor, shading, and oil mediums to witness the stark realities of rape, murder,child trafficking and fear.
Thesecompassionate drawings are done with charcoal pencils on blank paper. Onepoignant sketch shows a pregnant woman's embryo stressed by Tehran's social upheaval. Others show a rapevictim ostracized by the community and boys and girls violated by slavedealers.
Passionatelyand sometimes tearfully, she reveals these heroes. Her response to herexperiences has always been non-violent. She continues to teach at MIADand to bear witness to Tehran'schaos in her role as an artist and a war-tested warrior.
