Fajr festival honors veteran visual artists

The award-giving ceremony was held with the participation of Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini, Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Hamid Shahabadi, and a group of veterans.

The top medals were presented to Ali Fereiduni in photography, Manijeh Armin in earthenware, Gholamali Taheri in painting, Mohammad Khazaii in poster, Jalil Rasuli in calligraphy, Bahman Abdi in cartoon and Mohammad-Ali Rajabi in miniature.

French renowned photographer, Michel Setboun, famous for his photos of Iran’s 1979 revolution, was also honored in the ceremony.

Setboun worked for the Sipa Agency during the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88) in Iran.

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the Iranian Artists Forum, Niavaran Cultural Center, Saba Art and Cultural Institute, Tehran’s Palestine Museum of Contemporary Art, along with the art centers in 20 other provinces hosted the event for several weeks.

Six foreign countries of Austria, Italy, Syria, France, the Netherlands and Ghana also joined Iran by displaying Iranian visual artworks during the festival.

A collection of 1600 artworks went on display in the different categories. Iranian veteran artists also showcased works in seven categories of calligraphy, cartoon, earthenware, miniature, poster, photos and paintings at the “Seven Art, Seven Artists” expo at the Iranian Artists Forum.

The jury selected no winner in the paintings section, but honored several artists in this section.

Following is the list of the winners in other different sections:

Photo

* First Award: Qasem Shishegari.

* Second Award: Hossein Noshir.

* Third Award: Mehdi Razavi.

Poster

* First Award: Atefeh Mo’addab.

* Second Award: Ramezanali Zaboli.

* Third Award: Ali-Akbar Motamedian.

Cartoon

* First Award: Ahmet Aykanat (Turkey).

* Second Award: Nasser Moqaddam (Iran).

* Third Award: Aristides Esteban Hernandez Guerrero, known as Ares (Cuba)

Caricature

* First Award: Hadi Tabasi (Iran).

* Second Award: Eduardo Baptistao (Brazil).

* Third Award: Purya Hadizadeh.

Earthenware

* First Award: Meraj Nurmohammadi.

* Second Award: Hassan Shamlu.

* Third Award: Ehsan Azizi.

Miniature

* First Award: Amir Hossein Aqamiri.

* Second Award: Farangis Yadegar.

* Third Award: Sara Aqamiri and Mohammad-Ebrahim Moradi.

Illumination

* First Award: Rahim Charkhi.

* Second Award: Mehrdad Rastin.

* Third Award: Mehdi Irani and Bahram Mehrban.

Gol-o-morgh

* First Award: Mohammadreza Aqamiri.

* Second Award: Roya Hassan-Kazeruni.

* Third Award: Rana Sharilu and Parvin Mobin-Ali.

Nastaliq (calligraphy)

* First Award: Hamid Jafari.

* Second Award: Heidar Musavi.

* Third Award: Peyman Sadatnejad.

Shekasteh Nastaliq (calligraphy)

* First Award: Mostafa Rezaii.

* Second Award: Reza Amini.

* Third Award: Meysam Soltani and Shahram Ruhi.

The jury also did not select a winner in the calligraphy-paintings section, but honored several artists in this section.

A number of honorees and organizers of the 3rd Fajr International Festival of Visual Arts pose during the closing ceremony of the event at Vahdat Hall on March 4, 2011. (Mehr/Mohsen Rezaii)