The last word of protest is when it takes shape, it becomes present in all aspects of life. In the sound of the streets, the faces of passersby, television images, late-night movies, best-selling book lists, quiet restaurants, slogans from behind windows, and of course in art. If we want to talk about the starting point of protest and its manifestation in art, perhaps we should go back to the first signs of oppression by governments and systems in every society, in every geography, in every language and color it has taken form. Art is a free action and speaks with the language of protest when it sees freedom at risk. Protest art uses all its subcategories as tools, reaches the audience, and stands in the line of protesters.

For an artist, the priority in a protest work is to express blatant and clear injustice. The work in art does not speak of protest, it screams. The painting produces words from within, gives them to music, turns into a form, is given to theater, and becomes a visual representation of the word that continues in this way.

Adorno believes that art is not a committed crime. This means that every work of art is inspired by thinking about an uncommitted crime. This statement can be interpreted to mean that if a protesting artist lives in a society that has freedom of expression, when they display their work, they will not be worried about the consequences. However, a committed artist in Iran, from the moment they face an idea to the method of execution and ultimately the display of their work, is concerned about all the consequences of the artistic work they have created. This is because they live in a society where not only is there no place for freedom of expression, but when they shout their protest in their artwork, the Islamic Republic gives itself the permission to include a wide range of crimes, from propaganda against the regime to insulting sacred beliefs, in the artist’s file. In Iran, the artist expresses their protest in the form of painting, music, theater, performance, or any other form of execution under such conditions.

Artists in Iran are afraid to express their views in any field, for fear of facing aggressive government crackdowns and prosecution. Even if an artist speaks anything other than praise for the values of this system, they are put on a high list of artists who are under the scrutiny of security institutions. For this reason, many artists put all their efforts into creating works that are so complex that sometimes their main idea gets lost in the midst of this complexity. However, after the killing of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, something happened that caused artists to join the people’s anger and protests, and without any fear, they began to create works of art. Although after the publication of these works, they faced severe crackdowns or were arrested by oppressive forces.

When the audience goes to a gallery to see visual works, or reads a theater brochure and prepares themselves to sit in the theater seat or goes to a concert to listen to music, they see or hear the final output of an artwork; but the story of the artist in Iran goes through a dark and scary path; but in Iran, sometimes to show a few strands of hair in a painting, the work is pulled down from the wall of galleries. Theater texts are not accepted, because they had a critical approach and faced labels such as promoting Western culture or not being in line with Islamic values. Actors spend months practicing for a theater and in the end, the play does not receive a license for such reasons, or in the best case scenario, inspectors come who, with cruelty and ultimately ignorance, allow themselves to be rude to the actors’ bodies during the inspection and ultimately do not give permission for the play to be performed; unless the actors’ clothes are revealing. When leaving the theater, they

It has often happened that when a girl chooses singing as her profession, everyone tells her that her voice is one of the most forbidden in Iran. Iranian female singers, after years of effort and learning and dedicating their lives to this field, when they reach their peak, they do not find a way and at best they are placed as backup singers in the shadow of a male singer.

“Artists before this nationwide uprising were using all their creativity to figure out how to escape the grasp of the art butchers and convey their protest to the eyes and ears of the audience. In Iran, artists have designed a maze over the past four decades, where only they and their audience know the solution, and today we are witnessing this solution. Today, we can distinguish the difference between shades of gray and other colors. Today, between screaming and pleasing the audience, we have reached a point where we have chosen to scream.”